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OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

<  OF 


fogtorg  Iprittura 


HISTORY   OF   EGYPT 


BY 


F.  C.  H.  WENDEL,  A.  M.,  Ph.  D. 


UNIVER." 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

1890 


Copyright,  1890, 
By  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


PREFACE. 


In  presenting  to  the  public  this  little  book,  which  treats 
of  the  history  of  ancient  Egypt  from  the  earliest  times  to 
the  conquest  by  Alexander  the  Great,  my  object  has  been 
twofold :  First,  to  give  to  American  readers  a  brief  ac- 
count of  Egyptian  history  which  would  be  as  reliable  as 
the  present  state  of  Egyptological  science  permits ;  and, 
second,  to  create  a  deeper  interest  in  the  study  of  ancient 
Egypt.  The  study  of  Egyptology  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  the  theologist,  the  historian,  the  student  of 
civilization,  and  the  art-student.  In  science  and  art  Egypt 
was  the  teacher  of  Greece ;  even  the  Greek  alphabet  is 
derived  from  the  Egyptian  through  the  medium  of  the 
Phoenician,  and  Greece  was  the  teacher  of  Europe. 

The  basis  of  a  rational  study  of  Egyptology  will  always 
be  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Egyptian  history ;  without 
this  the  student  can  not  properly  understand  the  develop- 
ment of  Egypt's  civilization — of  its  science,  its  religion,  its 
art,  its  language,  and  its  literature.  I  have  in  the  follow- 
ing pages  given  as  complete  a  history  as  the  space  allotted 
would  permit.  In  the  introductory  chapter  I  have  not 
been  able  to  give  as  much  space  as  I  should  have  wished 
to  the  subjects  there  treated,  and  have  been  compelled  to 
confine  myself  to  what  was  absolutely  necessary.  Science, 
art,  and  literature  could  not  be  treated,  as  even  a  partial 
account  of  them  would  have  required  too  much  space. 

In  regard  to  the  sources  of  my  book,  I  have,  as  a  rule, 

184021 


4  .    PREFACE. 

confined  myself  to  the  Egyptian  monuments,  using  foreign 
sources  only  in  emergencies,  where  no  native  sources  are 
extant  for  the  period  in  question.  It  may  appear  strange 
to  some  readers  that  I  have  not  treated  of  the  Exodus. 
This  event  does  not,  however,  properly  belong  to  Egyptian 
history.  It  did  not  at  all  affect  Egypt,  however  important 
it  may  have  been  to  the  Israelites. 

In  my  chronology  I  have  followed  Eduard  Meyer,  the 
famous  German  historian,  who  introduced  a  system  of  so- 
called  "approximate  dates,"  which  are  always  the  latest 
dates  that  can  be  given  for  an  era.  Thus,  when  we  say 
that  King  Mena  ruled  about  3200  B.  c,  that  King  Snefru 
ruled  about  2830  B.  c,  and  Pepi  I,  2530  B.  c,  we  would 
not  by  any  means  imply  that  these  dates  are  absolutely 
correct ;  but  we  would  merely  imply  that  these  monarchs 
could  not  have  ruled  after  the  dates  given,  though  we 
can  not  say  how  long  before  these  dates  they  did  live. 
Snefru  may  even  have  ruled  five  hundred  years  before 
2830  B.  c,  but  we  have  no  means  of  knowing  his  exact 
date.  From  the  date  of  Aahmes  I's  accession  to  the 
throne,  about  1530  B.  C,  Meyer's  dates  are  approximately 
correct.  We  know  that  King  Necho  ruled  609-595  B-  c-» 
that  Sheshong  I  lived  about  930  B.  C,  that  Ramses  II 
lived  in  the  thirteenth  and  Thutmosis  III  in  the  fifteenth 
century  B.  c,  but  we  know,  as  an  absolute  certainty,  noth- 
ing more.  These  approximate  dates  are,  however,  such  a 
convenience  that  it  would  be  well  to  adopt  them  until  we  can 
give  the  exact  dates.  The  maps  here  given  have  been  most 
carefully  prepared,  and  will,  I  hope,  greatly  assist  the  reader 
in  understanding  the  history  of  the  great  campaigns. 

With  these  few  prefatory  remarks  I  submit  this  book- 
let to  the  judgment  of  the  public,  and,  if  I  succeed  in  the 
twofold  object  of  spreading  the  truth  so  far  as  discover- 
able, and  creating  a  deeper  interest  in  ancient  Egypt,  I 

shall  rest  content. 

F.  C.  H.  Wendel,  A.  M.,  Ph.  D. 

New  York  City,  November  11,  1889. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  Introductory     .......         7-30 

§  i .  Ancient  Geography,  7 ;  §  2.  Sources  of 
Egyptian  History,  12  ;  §  3.  Prehistoric  Condi- 
tions, 21 ;  §  4.  Religion,  23. 

II.  The  Old  Empire 31-45 

§  1.  Dynasty  I,  31 ;  §  2.  Dynasty  II,  33 ;  §  3. 
Dynasty  III,  34 ;  §  4.  Dynasty  IV,  35  ;  §  5.  Dy- 
nasty V,  39  ;  §  6.  Dynasty  VI,  41. 

III.  From  the  Seventh  Dynasty  to  the  close  of  the 

Twelfth 46-57 

§  1.  The  Transition  Period,  46  ;  §  2.  The  Mid- 
dle Empire,  47. 

IV.  The  Decline  of  the  Egyptian  Kingdom,  and  the 

Hyksos  Domination  .....       58-65 
§  1.  Dynasty  XIII,  59  ;  §  2.  Dynasty  XIV,  59  ; 
§  3.  The  Hyksos  Domination,  62 ;  §  4.  Dynast v 
XVII,  65. 

V.  From  the  Expulsion  of  the  Hyksos  to  the  Close 

of  the  Eighteenth  Dynasty  .  .  .  66-82 
§  1.  Aahmes  I,  66  ;  §  2.  Amenhotep  I,  69  ;  §  3. 
Thutmosis  I,  69  ;  §  4.  Thutmosis  II,  71  ;  §  5.  Ma- 
ka-Ra,  71 ;  §  6.  Thutmosis  III,  73  ;  §  7.  Amen- 
hotep II,  77  ;  §  8.  Thutmosis  IV,  77  ;  §  9.  Amen- 
hotep III,  78  ;  §  10.  Amenhotep  IV,  79  ;  §  11. 
The  Struggle  for  the  Succession,  81. 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGES 

VI.  The  Nineteenth  Dynasty  ....       83-96 

§  1.  Hor-em-heb,  83  ;  §  2.  Ramses  I,  84  ;  §  3. 
Seti  I,  84  ;  §  4.  Ramses  II,  87  ;  §  5.  Mer-en-Ptah, 
95  ;  §  6.  Close  of  the  Nineteenth  Dynasty,  96. 

VII.  The  Close  of  the  New  Empire  and  the  Period 

of  Decline  .        .         .         .        .        .     97-1 11 

§  1.  Dynasty  XX,  97  ;  §  2.  Dynasty  XXI,  105  ; 
§  3.  Dynasty  XXII,  108. 

VIII.  The  Aethiopians  and  Assyrians  in  Egypt  .  1 12-123 

§  1.  Dynasty  XXIII,  112  ;  §  2.  Dynasty  XXIV, 
117;  §3-   Dynasty  XXV,  118. 

IX.  The    Twenty-sixth    Dynasty — The    Egyptian 

Renaissance       ......  124-135 

§  1.  Psemtek  I,  124  ;  §  2.  Nekau,  126  ;  §  3. 
Psemtek  II,  128;  §  4.  Ouahabra,  128 ;  §  5.  Aahmes 
II,  130  ;  §  6.  Psemtek  III,  134. 

X.  From  the  Persian  Conquest  to  the  Invasion  of 

Alexander  the  Great 136-158 

§  1.  Dynasty  XXVII,  136;  §  2.  Dynasty 
XXVIII,  145  ;  §  3-  Dynasty  XXIX,  145  ;  §  4. 
Dynasty  XXX,  147 ;  §  5-  Dynasty  XXXI,  and 
Invasion  of  Alexander,  155. 

Chronological  Table 159 


MAPS. 

1.  Map  of  Egypt Frontispiece 

2.  Map  of  Aethiopia Opposite  page  50 

3.  Map  illustrating  the  Campaigns  of  Aah- 

mes I  and  Thutmosis  III  in  Asia     .  "  "       66 

4.  Seti  I  and  Ramses  II  in  Asia  .  "83 

5.  Map  of  the  Assy rio-Aethiopic  Wars  in  Asia       "  "     118 


HISTORY   OF   EGYPT. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

§  i.  The  Ancient  Geography  of  Egypt. 

Egypt  lies  in  the  northeastern  corner  of  Africa,  be- 
tween the  twenty-fourth  and  the  thirty-second  degrees  of 
north  latitude.     It  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Asia  and  the 
Red  Sea,  on  the  south  by  a  line  drawn   east  and  west 
through  Assuan,  on  the  First  Cataract,  on  the  west  by 
the  Desert  of  Sahara,  and  on  the  north  by  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea.     This  tract  of  country  is  five  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  long,  and  on  an  average  one  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  wide.     The  area  of  the  entire  country  is  about  one 
hundred  thousand  square  miles,  or  about  two  and  a  half 
times  that  of  Ohio.     But  the  whole  of  this  country  is  not 
cultivable  ;  by  far  the  larger  part  is  desert — on  the  west  a 
low,  arid,  sandy  plain ;  on  the  east  an  arid  mountain  re- 
gion.    Only  the  immediate  valley  of  the  Nile  is  arable  soil, 
and  this  is  a  very  narrow  strip,  which  between  Assuan 
and  the  Delta  never  exceeds  fifteen  miles  in  width,  and  at 
places  is  only  two  miles  wide.     In  the  Delta  there  is  a  far 
wider  stretch  of   cultivable  land,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  Nile  here  divides  into  numerous  branches  ;  but  even 
here  all  the  land  is  not  available  for  cultivation,  owing 
to   numerous  great   swamps   and    large   lakes.      In   an- 
tiquity the  greater  part  of  the  Delta  was   swamp   and 
meadow  land  ;  and  its  chief  value  lay  in  the  fact  that  it 
was  a  good  grazing  country,  and  that  its  swamps  and 
lakes  made  fine  hunting-grounds,  abounding  as  they  did 
in  all  sorts  of  aquatic  birds.     The  lakes  were  full  of  fish, 
so  that  fishing  was  added  to  grazing  and  hunting,  and 
thus  the  country  possessed  considerable  resources  even 
before  agriculture  became  profitable.     It  is  well  known 


8  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

that  Egypt  owes  this  strip  of  good  land  to  the  Nile.  This 
remarkable  river,  which  rises  in  the  Nyanza  Lakes  in 
tropical  Africa,  and  has  several  branches  which  come 
from  the  Ethiopic  highlands,  is  annually  swollen  by  the 
rains  which  prevail  in  the  tropics  during  the  rainy  season. 
Already  in  June  the  river  begins  to  rise,  and  continues  to 
swell  until  about  September  15th,  when  it  reaches  the 
high-water  mark.  It  then  remains  stationary  until  late  in 
October,  when  it  begins  to  fall,  and  by  January  the  river 
is  again  at  its  old  level.  So  important  was  this  rise  of  the 
Nile  to  the  entire  population,  that  the  ancient  Egyptians 
made  the  day  on  which  the  river  attained  its  highest  level, 
September  1 5th.  their  New-year's-day  (called  in  Egyptian 
up  rompet).  The  inundation  brought  coolness,  humidity, 
and  fertility.  The  river  brought  down  from  the  Ethio- 
pian highlands  vast  masses  of  mud,  which  it  deposited  on 
the  Egyptian  soil  when  it  inundated  the  land,  and  which 
remained  there  when  the  water  receded.  Thus  an  allu- 
vial soil  of  great  depth  and  richness  was  produced.  The 
full  benefits  of  the  inundation  could  not,  however,  be 
gained  without  hard  work  on  the  part  of  the  dwellers  in  the 
Nile  valley.  As  rain  was  in  antiquity  almost  entirely  want- 
ing in  Egypt,  a  carefully  arranged  system  of  irrigation  was 
necessary  to  convey  the  much-needed  moisture  to  the  more 
remote  fields.  The  digging  of  canals  from  the  river  and 
building  of  reservoirs  were  not  easy  work  ;  and,  moreover, 
the  overflow  had  to  be  carefully  regulated  in  accordance 
with  the  character  of  the  various  fields,  should  the  full 
results  be  obtained.  Thus  we  see  that  the  Egyptian  farmer 
could  not  sit  with  folded  arms  and  let  his  generous  river 
do  the  work  for  him.  He  had  to  be  up  and  doing  from 
early  morning  till  late  at  night,  to  reap  the  full  benefits 
obtainable  from  his  wonderful  stream. 

Before  we  touch  the  old  geographical  division  of  the 
country,  we  may  well  say  a  few  words  of  the  character  of 
the  rocky  highlands  that  fringe  the  Nile  valley.  At  the 
First  Cataract  the  river  breaks  through  a  vast  granite  bar- 
rier that  here  crosses  the  Nubian  sandstone  deposit.  At 
this  place  the  Egyptians  had  established,  already  in  the 
times  of  King  Chufu  (about  2800  B.  a),  great  quarries  from 
which  they  took  their  supply  of  granite.  In  the  same 
neighborhood  basalt,  too,  was  quarried  about  this  time. 
The  Nubian   sandstone  then  continues  as  far  north   as 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  9 

Silsileh,  where  the  Egyptians  early  worked  sandstone  quar- 
ries. The  character  of  the  hills  now  changes,  a  little  to 
the  north  of  Silsileh,  the  sandstone  giving  place  to  a  ter- 
tiary nummulitic  limestone,  which  formation  continues  on 
both  sides  of  the  Nile,  on  the  west  to  the  Mediterranean, 
on  the  east  to  Memphis,  whence  it  strikes  off  to  the  north- 
east. These  rocky  hills  seldom  reach  and  never  exceed 
the  moderate  height  of  six  hundred  to  eight  hundred  feet. 
The  character  of  the  mountain  region  between  the  Nile 
and  the  Red  Sea  is,  however,  vastly  different.  Here  we 
meet  with  grand  and  imposing  mountain  scenery,  the  bold, 
many-colored  mountain-peaks  often  reaching  a  height  of 
six  thousand  feet.  These  mountains  consist  of  crystalline 
rock,  granite,  gneiss,  porphyry,  diorite,  and  others.  Sev- 
eral valleys  lead  from  the  Nile  into  this  region.  The  most 
important  of  these  is  the  Wadi  Hammamat,  the  Rohanu 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  a  valley  extending  from  Qeneh 
on  the  Nile  to  Qoser,  on  the  Red  Sea.  This  valley  was 
used  in  antiquity  as  a  trade  route  between  the  Nile  valley 
and  the  sea,  the  point  of  departure  being  in  olden  times 
the  city  of  Qebti  (the  Koptos  of  the  Greeks,  the  modern 
Quft),  and  the  Red  Sea  port  being  some  place  near  the 
modern  Ooser).  For  a  time  it  was  at  the  extremity  of 
the  Wadi  Gasus,  north  of  Ooser.  This  valley  had  in  an- 
tiquity a  further  significance.  Midway  between  the  Nile 
and  the  Red  Sea  the  Egyptians  worked  in  very  early  times 
diorite  quarries  of  considerable  extent. 

So  much  for  the  general  character  of  the  land.  We 
now  turn  to  a  consideration  of  the  ancient  geography. 
The  Egyptian  official  name  of  the  state  was  Taut,  "  both 
lands  " — i.  e.,  both  North  and  South  Egypt ;  the  name  Qe- 
met,  "  the  black  (land)  "  was  also  often  used,  though  not  in 
state  documents.  From  this  name  was  derived  the  Coptic 
name  of  the  country,  KHME  in  Sahidic,  XHMI  in  Boheiric, 
from  which  latter  form  was  derived  the  Hebrew  Ham 
(  on ).  The  country  was  divided  into  two  parts,  the  South, 
known  in  Egyptian  as  Res  or  Qe?nat,  M  the  South,"  and  as 
Pa  ta  res,  "  the  South  Land,"  which  latter  name  gave  rise 
to  the  Hebrew  Patros,  the  UaOovprjs  of  the  Septuaginta, 
and  the  North,  designated  in  the  Egyptian  as  Mehta  "  the 
North,"  and  Pa  ta  mera.  The  "  South  "  included  all  the 
land  from  Assuan  to  Memphis,  the  "  North  "  all  of  the  Delta. 
Why  this  division  was  made  we  shall  see  in  §  3.     Each 


10  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

of  these  countries  was  divided  into  a  number  of  small  dis- 
tricts, which  we  are  accustomed  to  designate  as  nomes, 
generally  given  as  forty-two  in  number,  twenty-two  in 
Upper  and  twenty  in  Lower  Egypt.  I  here  enumerate 
the  twenty-two  Upper  Egyptian  and  the  principal  Lower 
Egyptian  nomes,  going  from  south  to  north,  and  stating 
as  briefly  as  possible  what  interest  attaches  to  each:  I. 
The  southernmost  nome,  Ta  Chont,  extended  from  Assuan 
to  Silsileh.  Its  chief  town  was  the  city  of  Abu  (Greek  Ele- 
phantine), situated  on  an  island  in  the  Nile.  Opposite  thin 
city,  on  the  river-bank,  lay  the  town  of  Swen,  where  the  old 
granite  quarries  were  situated ;  Swen  became  in  Greek 
Syene,  and  from  this,  by  prefixing  the  article,  the  Arabs 
made  Assuan.  On  the  northern  boundary  of  the  nome 
lay  the  sandstone  quarries  of  Silsileh.  The  deity  wor- 
shiped in  this  nome  was  the  god  Chnum.  II.  The  sec- 
ond nome  was  called  Tes  Hor.  Its  capital  and  religious 
center  was  the  famous  old  town  of  Debhot,  the  modern 
Kdfuy  where  the  well-preserved  ruins  of  the  temple  erected 
by  the  Ptolemies  to  the  local  divinity  Hor  Debehti,  a  form 
of  the  god  Horus  still  excite  the  admiration  of  the  beholder. 
III.  The  third  nome,  Ten,  with  the  capital  Neckebet,  the 
modern  Elkab,  Greek  Eletheia,  the  home  of  the  old  tutelar 
deity  of  Upper  Egypt,  the  goddess  Neckebet,  had  for  local 
deity  the  god  Chnum.  Two  other  cities  of  importance 
were  situated  in  this  nome :  Enyt,  the  modern  Esnek, 
where  there  stands  a  fairly  preserved  temple  built  in  Ptol- 
emaic times,  and  the  city  of  On,  called  "  On  of  the  god 
Mont,"  in  contradistinction  to  On-  Heliopolis,  the  city 
of  Ra,  in  Lower  Egypt ;  it  is  the  Greek  Hermontkzs,  and 
Arabic  Ernient.  IV.  Now  follows  the  fourth  nome,  Oue- 
set,  the  capital  of  which  was  the  famous  city  of  Oueset 
(commonly  known  by  its  Greek  name  Thebes)  ;  its  chief 
divinity  was  Anion  ;  Mentu  was  worshiped  in  the  south- 
ern portion.  V.  Horui,  the  capital  of  which  was  the  city 
of  Qebti,  situated  on  the  Nile  at  the  entrance  to  the  Wadi 
Hammamat,  of  which  we  have  spoken  above  ;  the  local 
divinity  was  the  god  Mm.  VI.  Aati  had  chiefly  religious 
importance  ;  its  capital,  Ta  ent  terer  (modern  Denderah, 
Greek  Tentyris),  was  the  home  of  the  great  goddess  Ha- 
thor.  Her  temple,  built  by  the  Ptolemies,  is  fairly  pre- 
served. VII.  The  nome  Seckem,  the  capital  of  which  was 
Hat  {Diospolis parva)  had  the  same  local  divinity,  Hathor. 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  1 1 

VIII.  Abt  was  one  of  the  most  important  nomes ;  its  cap- 
ital was  Abdu  (Abydos)  the  seat  of  the  Osiris  religion,  and 
alleged  burial-place  of  the  god.  IX.  The  ninth  nome, 
Min,  with  the  capital  Per-Min  (House  of  Min),  Greek 
Panopolis,  had  but  little  importance.  X.  This  nome, 
called  Ouatjety  the  capital  of  which  was  Debu  (Aphro- 
ditopolis),  worshiped  the  goddess  Hathor ;  the  district 
Neterui,  with  the  capital  Duqa  and  the  god  Horns, 
formed  part  of  it.  XL  The  eleventh  nome,  Set,  the  capi- 
tal of  which  was  Shashotep  (Hypse/e),  was  devoted  to 
the  god  Chnum.  XII.  Duhefu  had  as  capital  the  town 
of  Nut  ent  Bek  and  worshiped  the  god  Horus.  The 
chief  importance  of  this  nome  lay  in  its  valuable  alabaster 
quarries,  which  were  worked  in  very  early  times,  near  the 
ancient  city  of  Hat-nub,  the  modern  Ebnub.  XIII.  The 
nome  Atefchont,  the  capital  of  which  was  the  old  city  of 
Saiut  (Siut),  a  town  that  in  the  Middle  Empire  (2 100-1900 
B.  C.),  was  of  considerable  importance,  owing  to  the  influ- 
ential and  powerful  position  occupied  by  its  nomarchoi ;  it 
was  the  chief  seat  of  the  cult  of  the  jackal-headed  god  of  the 
Dead  Anubis,  XIV.  Atefpeh  was  unimportant ;  its  capi- 
tal was  Qesi  (Cusa),  and  its  deity  Hathor.  XV.  The 
nome  of  Ouen  had  for  capital  the  city  of  Chmunu  (Greek 
HermopoliSy  modern  Eshrnuniri),  which  derived  its  name 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  the  seat  of  the  eight  gods  of  the 
elements,  so  called  ;  the  chief  divinity  of  the  nome  was  the 
god  of  wisdom  Thot.  XVI.  Mehmahet  was  of  great  im- 
portance in  the  times  of  the  Middle  Empire,  owing  to  its 
influential  and  mighty  nomarchoi,  whose  tombs  were  dis- 
covered at  Benihassan.  To  these  tombs,  which  are  hewn 
into  the  living  rock,  and  the  walls  of  which  are  covered 
with  important  representations  and  inscriptions,  we  owe 
much  of  what  we  know  of  this  period.  The  capital  was 
Hebenu,  and  the  local  divinity  Horus.  XVII.  The  capi- 
tal of  the  nome  Anbu  was  Kasa  (Cynonpolis)  ;  its  god 
was  Anubis.  XVIII.  Sapet,  the  capital  of  which  was 
Hatbenu  (A/abastronpo/is),  one  of  the  seats  of  the 
Anubis  cult,  was  important  for  its  alabaster  quarries, 
which  were  opened  in  early  times.  XIX.  Ouab,  the  capi- 
tal of  which  was  the  city  of  Permatjet  {Oxyrrhynchos), 
was  the  only  nome  where  Set  was  worshiped.  From  this 
nome  led  the  roads  to  the  oases  of  the  eastern  Sahara. 
XX.  This  nome  bore  the  name  Atefchont.  Its  capital  was 
2 


12  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

Ckenensuten  (Heracleopolis  magna),  a  city  of  great  im- 
portance in  the  religion  of  Egypt,  as  the  god  Rd  was 
supposed  to  have  made  his  first  appearance  here.  The 
local  divinity  of  the  nome  was  HorshdH,  a  form  of  Horus. 

XXI.  Atef'peh  had  for  capital  the  city  of  Semenhor,  and 
for  local  deity  the  god  Chnum.  The  western  part  was 
know  as  Ta  she,  "  Lakeland,"  the  modern  name  of  the  re- 
gion being  Fayoum,  which  is  derived  from  the  ancient  word 
Pa-yom,  "  the  sea,"  through  the  medium  of  the  Boheiric 
dialect  of  the  Coptic,  in  which  it  became  Pha-yom.  Here 
was  situated  the  great  reservoir  built  by  Amenhotep  III. 

XXII.  The  northernmost  nome  of  Upper  Egypt  was 
known  as  Mdten.  Its  capital  was  Tepah,  and  its  local 
deity  the  goddess  Hathor. 

Of  the  twenty  Lower  Egyptian  nomes  I  shall  enumer- 
ate only  the  principal  ones :  I.  Anbu-hetj,  the  nome  of 
Mennefer  (Memphis),  the  city  of  Ptah.  IV.  Sept-res, 
the  nome  of  Tjeka  (Canopus),  where  Amon-Rd  was  wor- 
shiped. V.  Sepi-em-het,  the  nome  of  Sa  (Sai's),  where 
the  great  goddess  Neit  was  worshiped,  the  home  of  the 
Psametichs.  IX.  Atji,  the  nome  of  Per-Usiri  (Busiris), 
the  city  of  Osiris.  XII.  Katjeb,  the  nome  of  Tjebneter 
(Sebennythos),  the  home  of  the  god  Anhur.  XIII.  Ha- 
kad,  the  nome  of  On  {Heliopolis),  the  great  seat  of  the 
Rd  religion.  XIV.  Chentabed,  the  nome  of  Tjan  ( Tanis), 
where  Horus  was  worshiped.  XVI.  Char,  the  nome  of 
Per-Banebded  (Mendes),  the  god  of  which  was  the  sac- 
red ram  Banebded.  XVIII.  Amchent,  the  nome  of  Per- 
bastet  (Bubastis),  the  city  of  the  cat-headed  goddess 
Bastet.  XIX.  Ampeh,  the  name  of  Per-Ouatj  (Buto), 
where  Ouatj,  the  tutelar  deity  of  Lower  Egypt,  had  her 
home. 

§  2.    The  Sources  of  Egyptian  History. 

It  is  needful  in  a  history  of  Egypt  to  give  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  the  sources  from  which  our  knowledge  of  the 
facts  is  derived.  These  sources  are :  a.  National ;  b. 
Asiatic  ;  and  c.  Classical. 

a.  National  Sources.— Before  we  give  any  ac- 
count  of  the  monuments  and  documents  on  which  by  far 
the  greatest  part  of  Egyptian  history  is  based,  it  may  be 
well  to  review  rapidly  the  history  of  the  decipherment  of 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  13 

the  hieroglyphics  and  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  Egyp- 
tion  system  of  writing. 

Already  in  the  Middle  Ages  men  like  Athanasius 
Kircher  attempted  to  decipher  the  "  mysterious  picture- 
writing  "  of  ancient  Egypt ;  but  their  interpretations,  pro- 
ceeding from  an  utter  misconception  of  the  true  nature  of 
the  hieroglyphics,  were  fantastical  and  utterly  useless. 
The  results  attained  by  these  men  discredited  the  study 
of  hieroglyphics,  and  scholars  turned  rather  to  Coptic,  the 
liturgic  language  of  the  Christian  Church  of  Egypt,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Egyptian  tongue,  and  at  the  time  still  a 
living  language.  The  results  attained  in  this  study  were 
later  on  of  great  value  to  the  decipherers  of  the  ancient 
tongue.  In  August.  1799,  there  was  unearthed  at  Rosetta 
a  block  of  black  basalt  bearing  a  decree  of  Ptolemy  Epi- 
phanes  in  Greek,  hieroglyphics,  and  demotic — the  cele- 
brated "  Rosetta  stone."  Immediately  scholars  set  to 
work  at  deciphering  the  inscription.  Thomas  Young,  an 
English  mathematician,  and  Francois  Champollion,  a. 
French  savant,  working  independently  of  one  another, 
succeeded  at  about  the  same  time  in  deciphering  the  royal 
names  in  the  hieroglyphical  part,  and,  to  the  surprise  of 
all,  it  was  found  that  the  writing  was  largely  phonetic. 
Champollion's  results  were  by  far  the  more  important, 
and  when,  ten  years  after  his  first  great  discovery,  he  died 
in  1832,  he  had  already  correctly  given  the  contents  of 
entire  inscriptions  and  papyri,  and  had  laid  down  the  ele- 
ments of  a  grammar.  Ten  years  later  Richard  Karl 
Lepsius,  the  great  German  Egyptologist,  who  died  some 
years  ago,  carried  further  the  work  so  ably  begun  by  Cham- 
pollion,  and  through  him  the  final  proof  was  given  that 
the  results  so  far  attained  were  correct.  He  discovered 
in  1867  at  Tanis  a  trilingual  inscription — the  so-called 
"Decree  of  Canopus" — the  study  of  which  document 
finally  confirmed  the  results  hitherto  obtained  from  the 
study  of  the  Egyptian  texts.  Thus  the  stage  of  decipher- 
ment came  to  a  close.  Since  then  able  scholars  in  all 
parts  of  Europe  have  been  adding  to  our  knowledge  of 
Egyptian  matters. 

The  Egyptian  system  of  writing  appears  at  first  glance 
to  be  highly  complicated,  but  it  is  in  reality  far  simpler 
than  it  looks.  It  is  a  combination  of  the  phonetic — 
alphabetic  and   syllabic  —  and   ideographic  systems,  to 


14  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

which  is  added  a  system  of  determinatives.  The  alpha- 
bet consists  of  twenty-two  consonants — vowels  are,  as  in 
all  other  old  Semitic  languages,  not  written.  The  alpha- 
betic and  syllabic  signs  are  by  far  the  oldest,  the  most 
ancient  texts  being  purely  phonetic,  containing  neither 
ideograms  nor  determinatives.  Owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  vowels  were  not  written,  confusion  early  arose  among 
words  having  the  same  consonants  but  different  significa- 
tions, and,  in  all  probability,  pronounced  with  different 
vowels.  To  obviate  this  difficulty,  the  Egyptians  early 
invented  a  system  of  determinatives.  A  determinative  is 
the  picture  of  an  object  placed  after  the  word  signifying 
the  object  in  question.  Determinatives  are  either  generic 
or  specific.  The  generic  determinative  is  the  picture  of 
some  object  which  is  characteristic  of  a  group.  Thus, 
after  the  names  of  animals  we  frequently  find  the  picture 
of  a  piece  of  skin  ;  after  abstract  words  and  verbs  we  find 
the  picture  of  a  papyrus  roll ;  and  after  the  names  of  for- 
eign countries  we  find  the  picture  of  a  range  of  hills.  The 
specific  determinative  is  the  picture  of  the  object  that  the 
word  denotes.  Thus,  after  the  word  hetra,  signifying 
"  horse,"  the  picture  of  a  horse  was  often  placed ;  after 
the  word  abu,  denoting  "  panther,"  we  often  find  a  picture 
of  that  animal ;  after  the  word  romet,  "  man,"  we  find  the 
picture  of  a  man,  as  also  after  the  names  of  males ;  after 
the  word  suten,  "  king,"  we  find  the  picture  of  a  king ; 
after  the  word  himet,  "woman,"  the  names  of  females 
and  goddesses,  we  find  the  picture  of  a  woman  ;  and  after 
the  names  of  cities  we  find  the  plan  of  a  city.  From  these 
determinatives  arose  in  course  of  time  ideograms,  or 
word-pictures.  Thus  the  plan  of  a  city,  originally  the 
determinative  of  the  word  nut,  "city,"  came  with  time  to 
stand  for  the  word  itself,  which  is  never  written  phonetic- 
ally ;  the  picture  of  a  bee,  originally  the  determinative  of 
the  word  afet,  "honey,"  came  with  time  to  be  used  as  the 
ideogram  for  that  word  ;  the  figure  of  a  man  walking  with 
a  long  staff,  originally  the  determinative  of  the  word  ser, 
"  prince,"  later  on  was  used  as  an  ideogram.  Many  other 
examples  could  be  given,  but  these  will  illustrate  the  general 
principle.  In  Ptolemaic  times  the  ideograms  were  greatly 
multiplied,  many  texts  being  written  almost  entirely  in  ideo- 
grams. It  must,  however,  always  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  writing  was  originally  phonetic,  and  not  ideographic. 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  15 

The  writing,  too,  has  a  history  of  its  own.  In  the 
oldest  times  the  writing  was  purely  hieroglyphical.  Hiero- 
glyphics were  written  as  early  as  4000  B.  C,  if  not  earlier, 
and  continued  in  use  far  into  the  times  of  the  Roman  em- 
perors. These  hieroglyphics  were  originally  finely  exe- 
cuted in  every  detail,  and  this  remained  the  custom  on  all 
government  monuments  so  long  as  hieroglyphics  were 
used.  But  it  was  early  found  that  the  full  hieroglyphics, 
while  admirably  adapted  for  inscriptions  on  stone,  were 
too  cumbersome  for  writing  on  papyrus  or  mummy-bands 
(which  were  of  linen),  so  an  abridged  or  cursive  form, 
that  we  call  linear  hieroglyphics,  was  invented.  These 
linear  hieroglyphics  are  merely  the  characteristic  outlines 
of  the  full  signs.  They  remained  in  use  all  through 
Egyptian  history  for  religious  texts  written  on  papyrus 
and  mummy-bands.  About  1700  B.  C.  a  new  method  of 
writing  came  into  vogue  for  profane  writings.  This  new 
method,  which  still  further  abridged  the  hieroglyphics,  is 
called  Hieratic,  The  older  form  of  this  hieratic  still  in 
some  measure  resembles  the  linear  hieroglyphical  writing 
from  which  it  was  derived.  Some  four  hundred  years  this 
method  seems  to  have  been  in  use,  when  a  new  system 
came  into  being,  which  is  also  called  hieratic,  but  differs 
materially  from  the  older  style,  from  which  it  is  abridged, 
in  that  it  is  far  less  cumbersome,  omitting  many  of  the 
details  found  in  the  older  hieratic,  and  being  thus  far 
more  suitable  for  rapid  writing.  From  this  newer  hie- 
ratic was  derived  the  Phoenician  alphabet,  from  which  the 
Greek  alphabet  was  derived.  This  form  of  the  hieratic  is 
thus  the  ancestor  of  our  alphabet.  This  style  of  writing 
remained  in  fashion  many  hundred  years  as  the  cursive 
script  used  on  papyrus,  and  sometimes  even  on  mummy- 
bands.  The  last  stage  in  the  development  of  Egyptian 
script  was  reached  in  the  Demotic  in  the  fifth  century  be- 
fore the  Christian  era.  This  was  a  still  further  abridg- 
ment of  the  new  hieratic,  but  it  eliminated  so  many  details 
that  very  many  letters  and  syllabic  signs  that  had  been 
kept  distinct  in  hieratic  became  one  and  the  same  sign,  a 
fact  that  renders  the  reading  of  Demotic  very  difficult. 
The  new  system  had,  however,  the  advantage  of  being 
very  rapid,  and  thus  it  quickly  supplanted  the  hieratic ;  it 
remained  in  use  up  to  the  Christian  times,  when  it  was 
supplanted  by  the  Coptic  script,  which  was  modeled  after 


16  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

the  Greek.  The  reader  must  not,  however,  imagine  that 
these  changes  were  sudden  ;  one  led  gradually  to  the 
other.  Thus  the  old,  full  hieroglyphics  were  abridged  in 
the  linear  hieroglyphics,  from  these  was  developed  the 
old  hieratic,  from  this  the  new  hieratic,  and  this,  becom- 
ing gradually  more  and  more  cursive,  led  over  to  the 
Demotic. 

We  now  pass  to  a  consideration  of  the  Egyptian 
sources  from  which  our  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  Egyptian 
history  is  derived.  The  texts  which  are  of  primary  im- 
portance are  the  lists  of  kings  compiled  in  antiquity. 
The  most  important  of  these  is  the  so-called  "  Turin 
Papyrus  of  Kings,"  which  gives  a  list  of  Egyptian  kings 
from  the  earliest  times  to  the  times  of  the  sixteenth 
dynasty  (about  1700  B.  C),  including  the  earlier  kings  of 
this  dynasty,  in  which  it  was  most  probably  written.  This 
list  is  chronological,  the  duration  of  the  reign  of  each  king 
in  years,  months,  and  days,  being  given  after  his  name. 
Unfortunately,  however,  the  papyrus  is  fragmentary,  hav- 
ing been  broken  into  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  small 
pieces  on  the  way  to  Turin.  Prof.  Seyffarth  conferred  a 
lasting  benefit  on  historical  science  by  arranging,  number- 
ing, and  mounting  these  fragments,  thus  preserving  this 
valuable  document.  The  second  list  of  importance  is  that 
discovered  in  the  temple  of  Osiris  in  Abydos.  This  list 
contains  the  names  of  seventy -five  predecessors  of  Seti  I 
(about  1320  B.  c),  arranged  in  chronological  order.  The 
third  list  was  discovered  in  a  private  tomb  dating  from 
the  times  of  Ramses  II  (1300  to  1230  B.  C.) ;  it  enumerates 
forty-seven  kings.  The  last  important  list  is  that  found  in 
Karnak,  which  enumerates  sixty-one  predecessors  of  Thut- 
mosis  III  (1480  to  1430).  Besides  these  a  number  of 
smaller  and  less  important  lists  have  been  discovered. 
Next  in  importance  to  the  lists  stand  the  official  inscrip- 
tions of  the  kings.  The  pharaohs  were  in  the  habit  of 
inscribing  on  the  walls  of  the  temples  they  erected  to  the 
gods  long  accounts  of  their  deeds.  In  order  to  be  able  to 
give  a  full  account  of  their  campaigns  the  kings  were  ac- 
companied by  scribes  specially  detailed  to  write  down  the 
history  of  these  campaigns.  Their  accounts  were  then 
copied  on  the  temple  walls.  Great  paintings  illustrating 
the  principal  events  of  a  campaign  covered  the  space  not 
occupied  by  the  inscriptions,  in  that  part  of  the  temple 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  17 

allotted  to  the  annals.  These  inscriptions  were  divided 
into  two  parts — the  date,  on  which  followed,  as  a  rule,  a 
laudatory  hymn  to  the  king,  and  the  account  of  the  cam- 
paign. These  texts  give  a  chronological  account  of  the 
campaigns  of  the  king,  often  going  into  the  details  of  the 
march  and  of  the  various  battles.  Among  the  most  in- 
teresting of  these  inscriptions  is  a  copy  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  and  alliance  between  Ramses  II  and  Chetasar,  king 
of  the  Cheta,  which  was  originally  engraved  on  a  silver 
plate,  and  from  this  was  copied  on  the  outer  wall  of  the 
temple  of  Karnak,  where  it  has  been  completely  preserved. 
Of  importance  are  further  royal  decrees,  which  are  fre- 
quently found  inscribed  on  stelae  and  temple  walls.  Re- 
ports of  buildings  erected  by  the  kings,  and  of  expeditions 
undertaken  at  their  command,  are  not  unfrequent ;  several 
of  the  latter  the  reader  will  meet  with  later  on.  The  most 
important  report  of  all  is  that  which  Ramses  III  (about 
1 1 80  to  1 148  B.  C.)  gave  of  his  reign,  and  which  is  pre- 
served in  the  so-called  Papyrus  Harris  I ;  it  is  a  com- 
prehensive account  of  Ramses's  architectural  enterprises, 
his  expeditions,  and  his  gifts  to  the  temples ;  in  addition  it 
gives  a  brief  review  of  the  state  of  Egypt  immediately  be- 
fore the  reign  of  the  king's  father,  Setnecht.  Lists  of 
conquered  nations  are  also  of  frequent  occurrence,  but 
often  possess  very  little  value.  The  most  valuable  of 
these  lists  is  that  of  Thutmosis  III,  which  gives  the  names 
of  irom  three  hundred  to  four  hundred  conquered  nations 
and  cities,  lying  mostly  in  Asia.  Later  lists,  as  those  of 
Seti  I  and  Ramses  II,  enumerating  over  a  hundred  coun- 
tries, and  that  of  Sheshong  I,  which  gives  an  equal  num- 
ber, are  frequently  copied  in  part  from  the  lists  of  Thut- 
mosis III,  and  can  be  used  only  with  the  utmost  caution. 
The  oldest  example  of  such  a  list  is  a  stele  of  Usertesen  I, 
which  enumerates  the  negro  tribes  conquered  by  him. 
Scarabasi  are  seldom  of  historical  value,  though  some 
belonging  to  the  reign  of  Amenhetep  III  are  important, 
viz.,  those  noticing  his  marriage  with  Queen  Tii,  and  those 
giving  accounts  of  his  hunting  exploits.  Of  great  im- 
portance are  the  tombs  of  the  nobles.  These  tombs  had 
attached  to  them  funereal  chapels,  the  walls  of  which 
were  covered  with  paintings  and  inscriptions,  giving  a 
brief  biographical  sketch  of  the  individual  buried  in  the 
tomb,  enumerating  his  titles,  his  possessions,  and  all  his 


18  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

exploits.  These  inscriptions  are  of  great  value.  To  them 
we  owe  all  that  we  know  of  the  Egyptian  civilization,  and 
often  all  the  historical  knowledge  we  possess  of  entire 
epochs  (confer  the  case  of  the  Una  inscription,  page  42). 

b.  Asiatic  Sources. — First  among  these  we  must 
mention  the  Bible.  The  Sacred  Writings  are,  as  may  be 
expected  from  their  character,  not  the  most  copious  or 
important  sources  of  Egyptian  history.  The  first  two 
books,  Genesis  and  Exodus,  frequently  mention  Egypt, 
but  they  are  concerned  only  with  the  fate  of  the  Hebrews 
who  dwelt  in  Egypt,  and  do  not  go  into  Egyptian  history. 
In  the  books  of  the  Kings  and  in  Chronicles  frequent  al- 
lusions are  made  to  Egyptian  history,  and  what  we  find 
here  is  always  confirmed  by  the  monuments.  The  proph- 
ets, especially  Ezekiel  and  Jeremias,  frequently  allude  to 
contemporaneous  Egyptian  history.  Of  greater  impor- 
tance are  the  Assyrian  inscriptions.  These  inscriptions 
shed  light  on  a  period  of  Egyptian  history  of  which  we 
know  nothing  from  the  national  monuments.  I  refer  to 
the  period  of  the  Assyrian  invasions  in  the  seventh  century 
B.  C.  The  Assyrian  kings  whose  inscriptions  are  of  im- 
portance in  this  connection  are  Tiglathpilesar  III,  Sargon 

'II,  Sanherib,  and  Assurbanipal.  Next  in  importance  are 
the  inscriptions  of  King  Nebuchadnezzar  II,  of  Babylon, 
who  invaded  Egypt  in  the  sixth  century  B.  c. 

c.  Classical  Sources. — Of  the  host  of  classical 
writers  who  wrote  on  Egypt  I  give  in  the  following  only 
the  principal  ones.  The  book  that  long  stood  unchal- 
lenged as  a  source  of  Egyptian  history  is  the  "Histories" 
of  Herodotus  of  Halicarnassus.  The  study  of  the  monu- 
ments has,  however,  revealed  great  errors  in  this  work, 
and  has  proved  it  to  be  utterly  untrustworthy  as  a  his- 
tory. Herodotus's  great  fault  was  that  he  believed  all  the 
stories  his  guides  told  him,  some  of  which  are  so  improb- 
able that  we  are  surprised  to  find  that  so  intelligent  a  man 
as  our  author  was  should  have  believed  them  at  all.  He 
visited  Egypt  about  450  B.  c,  at  a  time  when  it  was  under 
Persian  rule,  and  probably  never  got  farther  south  than 
Memphis.  What  he  saw  he  described  accurately,  and 
that  part  of  his  history  which  relates  to  the  times  of  the 
last  Psametichs  and  the  Persian  rulers  of  the  land  is  per- 
fectly reliable.  His  book  is  the  book  of  a  tourist,  and  all 
his  faults   are  the  faults  of  a  tourist   who  travels  in  a 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  19 

strange  and  wonderful  land  without  any  knowledge  of  the 
language,  and  having  but  a  short  time  to  "  do  "  the  sights. 
Another  reason  why  the  book  is  in  great  part  unreliable 
is  because  the  Greeks,  believing  the  Egyptians  possessed 
of  a  deep  and  mysterious  learning,  and  having  some  dim 
tradition  of  the  fact  that  their  arts  and  sciences  were  origi- 
nally derived  from  Egypt,  though  they  had  already  far 
surpassed  their  teachers,  sought  to  derive  their  entire 
civilization — their  religion  and  philosophy,  which  were 
purely  native,  as  well  as  art  and  science,  which  had  in- 
deed received  their  first  impulse  from  Egypt — from  the 
mystic  lore  of  that  most  ancient  land.  The  Egyptian 
priests  with  whom  the  Greek  tourists  came  into  contact 
naturally  strengthened  them  in  this  belief,  and  gave  them- 
selves a  very  mysterious  air,  thus  still  more  increasing 
their  reputations  for  learning.  One  word  on  the  subject 
of  castes  may  well  be  said  here  before  we  leave  Herodo- 
tus. From  his  work  an  erroneous  impression  has  crept 
into  many  modern  books  on  Egypt,  that  the  ancient 
Egyptians  were  divided  into  so-called  "castes."  In  an-* 
cient  Egypt  there  existed,  of  course,  the  same  classes  that  **"*• 
existed  in  all  ancient  monarchies.  There  was  the  king 
and  the  royal  family,  the  hereditary  nobility,  the  middle 
class,  consisting  of  merchants,  farmers,  mechanics — from 
which  government  officials  and  priests  were  recruited  as 
well  as  from  the  princes  and  nobles — the  laborers,  and 
the  slaves.  No  one  was,  however,  compelled  to  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  his  father.  Thus,  if  the  father  was  a  gov- 
ernment official,  a  priest,  an  officer,  a  merchant,  a  farmer, 
or  a  mechanic,  the  son  need  not  necessarily  also  be  a  gov- 
ernment official,  a  priest,  an  officer,  a  merchant,  a  farmer, 
or  a  mechanic,  but  was  free  to  choose  his  vocation.  We 
have  even  instances  of  men  of  humble  birth  rising  to  the 
highest  position  in  the  gift  of  the  crown ;  and  that  does 
not  look  as  though  the  Egyptians  had  possessed  a  system 
of  castes. 

The  most  important  of  these  writers  is  Manetho  of  N 
Sebennythos.  He  lived  in  the  third  century  before  the 
common  era,  and  his  book  was  written  about  271  B.  C,  as 
tradition  asserts  at  the  instance  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus. 
Manetho  was  a  high  priest  and  temple  scribe  of  Sebenny- 
thos, and  was  thus  familiar  with  the  Egyptian  language. 
He  was  also  an  able  classical  scholar.     Thus  he  was  fitted 


20  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

.  for  the  work  of  writing  an  Egyptian  history  as  perhaps  no 
other  man  then  living,  his  learning  giving  him  access  alike 
to  the  native  monuments  and  the  classic  authors,  the  errors 
of  which  latter  he  attacked.  The  chief  value  of  the  work 
lay  in  the  fact  that,  being  based  on  the  native  sources,  it 
must  have  been  quite  reliable.  Manetho  divided  all  the 
kings  from  Mena  to  Alexander  the  Great  into  thirty-one 
so-called  dynasties,  stating  from  what  part  of  Egypt  the 
various  dynasties  came.  On  what  his  division  is  based 
we  can  not  say.  It  is  important  to  note  that  the  Turin 
Papyrus  makes  a  somewhat  different  division  from  his. 
He  also  divided  Egyptian  history  into  three  periods :  I. 
Old  Empire  (Dynasties  I  to  XI) ;  II.  Middle  Empire  (Dy- 
nasties XII  to  XIX)  ;  III.  New  Empire  (Dynasties  XX 
to  XXX).  We  retain  his  terms,  but  make  a  somewhat 
different  division,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  this  book. 
Unfortunately,  this  important  work  is  lost,  and  only  frag- 
mentary extracts  of  it  have  been  preserved.  The  histori- 
ans who  made  these  extracts  were  not  guided  by  a  true 
scientific  spirit,  but  took  only  what  happened  to  suit  their 
immediate  purpose,  and  the  extracts  frequently  conflict 
with  one  another  in  important  details.  These  copy- 
ists were  Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian,  Africanus  and 
Eusebius.  Of  course,  we  can  form  no  just  estimate  of  a 
work  preserved  in  so  fragmentary  a  condition.  Diodorus 
Siculus,  who  visited  Egypt  about  57  B.  c,  wrote  an  ac- 
count of  the  country.  His  work  is,  however,  but  little 
more  trustworthy  than  that  of  Herodotus.  Diodorus 
seems  to  have  had  all  of  Herodotus's  faults  but  none  of 
his  virtues.  Manetho  he  does  not  seem  to  have  known ; 
at  all  events  he  does  not  refer  to  his  book.  Strabo  and 
Pliny  both  touch  Egyptian  history  incidentally,  but  are 
not  trustworthy.  Plutarch,  who  lived  in  the  second  cent- 
ury A.  DM  wrote  a  fair  work  on  Egyptian  religion,  under 
the  title  of  "  Peri  Isidos  kai  Osiridos."  Horapollon 
Nilous  wrote  between  the  years  379  and  395  A.  D.,  a  work 
under  the  title  " Hieroglyphica"  in  which  he  gives  mostly 
correct  explanations  of  such  hieroglyphics  as  frequently 
occur  in  Ptolemaic  inscriptions.  He  knew,  however, 
merely  the  ideographic  and  not  the  phonetic  value  of  these 
hieroglyphs. 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  21 


§  3.  Prehistoric  Conditions, 

When  we  first  come  upon  Egypt,  it  is  a  full-grown 
state  possessed  of  a  well-ordered  government,  a  well-or- 
ganized society,  and  a  civilization  of  a  high  order.  At 
the  dawn  of  history  the  formative  period  of  the  nation 
was  over,  and  Egypt  was  a  finished  product.  How  many 
centuries  the  formative  period  lasted  we  can  not  say,  but 
we  can,  from  facts  observed  in  the  later  development  of 
the  land  and  its  religion,  make  some  deductions  as  to  the 
prehistoric  conditions  of  the  country.  We  can  even — and 
that  is  of  great  importance — trace  in  general  outline  the 
formative  process,  the  result  of  which  was  the  Egyptian 
state.  Egypt  was  not  always  a  single  united  country  as 
it  was  in  historic  times,  but  was  for  a  long  time  previous 
to  Mena  divided  into  two  countries,  which  were  entirely 
independent  of  one  another,  and  remained  so  until  King 
Mena  united  them  and  founded  the  Egyptian  state  about 
3200  B.  C.  These  two  countries  were  known  even  after 
the  union  as  "  the  North  "  and  "  the  South"  and  the  offi- 
cial name  of  the  united  kingdom  was  Taut  —  "Both 
lands  " — thus  preserving  the  memory  that  there  were 
originally  two  countries  where  in  historical  times  there  was 
but  one.  One  of  the  king's  titles  was  Sam-taui,  uniter  of 
both  lands.  We  can  even  say  what  cities  were  the  capi- 
tals of  the  two  states.  The  capital  of  the  South  was  in 
all  probability  the  city  of  Nechebet,  that  of  the  North  was 
the  city  of  Buto.  We  deduce  these  facts  from  the  fact 
that  the  goddess  of  Nechebet,  whose  name  was  also 
Nechebet,  was  regarded  in  all  epochs  of  Egyptian  history 
as  the  tutelar  divinity  of  Upper  Egypt  (the  South),  and 
the  goddess  of  Buto  (known  originally  as  the  double  city 
of  Pe  and  Dep,  and  in  later  times  as  Per  Ouatj)  Ouatj  was 
regarded  in  all  epochs  of  Egyptian  history  as  the  tutelar 
deity  of  Lower  Egypt  (the  North).  Each  of  these  two 
countries  had  its  own  crown— Lower  Egypt  a  curiously 
shaped  red  crown,-  and  Upper  Egypt  a  peculiar  white 
crown,  shaped  like  one  of  the  pieces  used  in  playing  nine- 
pins. When  the  two  countries  were  united  these  two 
crowns  were  combined  into  one  as  the  peshent,  or  double 
crown — the  white  crown  being  put  inside  of  the  red. 

These  two  countries  were  in  themselves  composite 
products,  resulting  from  the  union  of  various  small  dis- 


22  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

tricts  which  we  designate  as  nomes.  That  these  nomes 
were  originally  independent  of  one  another  we  can  deduce 
with  some  degree  of.  certainty  from  the  fact  that  they  re- 
tained their  autonomy  through  all  epochs  of  Egyptian  his- 
tory, had  their  own  hereditary  rulers,  known  as  nomarchoi, 
their  own  local  governments,  and,  what  is  most  important 
in  this  inquiry,  their  own  peculiar  religious  beliefs. 

Egyptian  tradition  naturally  ignores  this  state  of  things, 
asserting  that  the  first  pharaohs  of  the  land  were  the 
gods;  that  on  these  succeeded  the  Shemsu-Hor,  "Follow- 
ers of  Horus  " — a  sort  of  demi-gods  ;  and  on  these,  finally, 
King  Mena.  That  in  Mena's  time  the  two  countries  were 
united  into  one  was  a  fact  that  could  not  be  spirited  away 
by  any  amount  of  tradition  ;  so  a  legend  arose  to  explain 
the  fact  that  the  country  was  divided  before  Mena's  time, 
that  Horus  and  Set  had  divided  the  country  between 
them.  Such  a  legend  which  seeks  to  explain  existing 
conditions  we  call  aiteological. 

The  question  whether  or  not  the  Egyptians  were  abo- 
rigines has  been  frequently  discussed.  The  most  proba- 
ble solution  of  the  problem  is  this :  The  Egyptians  as  a 
race  were  aborigines,  and  they  always  looked  upon  them- 
selves as  such.  They  designate  only  their  own  people  as 
ronietu,  "  men  " ;  the  other  peoples  may  be  Syrians,  Ne- 
groes, or  Asiatics,  but  "  men  "  they  are  not.  It  seems  prob- 
able, however,  that  these  aborigines  were  subdued  by  a 
small  band  of  invaders  who  came  from  southwestern 
Asia,  and  who,  though  not  strong  enough  to  influence  the 
race,  yet  were  sufficiently  powerful  to  force  on  the  con- 
quered people  their  language,  and  perhaps  some  of  their 
religious  conceptions.  The  relations  between  conqueror 
and  conquered  were  then  pretty  much  the  same  as  those 
between  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  aboriginal  Britons,  and 
those  between  the  conquering  Arabs  and  the  modern 
Egyptians.  Of  course,  this  is  merely  a  hypothesis,  though 
it  is  a  very  probable  one.  ■ 

To  speak  of  a  "  Stone  age  "  in  prehistoric  Egypt  is  en- 
tirely out  of  the  way.  Stone  implements  were  used  for 
many  centuries  even  in  historic  times,  and  the  "  Stone 
age  " — if  we  may  speak  of  one  at  all — falls  within  the  his- 
toric periods. 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  23 


§  4.  A  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Ancient  Egyptian  Religion. 

To  understand  the  development  of  Egyptian  religion 
we  must  understand  the  prehistoric  conditions  sketched 
above,  and  must  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Egyptian 
history.  We  would,  therefore,  advise  our  readers  to  read 
the  history  before  they  read  this  sketch  of  the  religion  of 
Egypt. 

The  Egyptians  were  originally  what  is  called  ammists  ; 
that  is  to  say,  they  believed  that,  just  as  man  is  endowed 
with  a  soul,  so  every  animal,  every  plant,  ay,  every  inani- 
mate object  is  also  endowed  with  a  soul,  or  rather  is  pos- 
sessed of  a  spirit  or  demon  which  is  the  cause  of  the  good 
or  evil  qualities  the  animal,  plant,  or  thing  in  question 
possesses.  The  animal,  plant,  or  thing  in  question  thus 
became  the  object  of  a  primitive  cult  with  a  view  to  pro- 
pitiating the  same.  The  two  great  motives  of  primitive 
cults  are  always  love  and  fear,  and  of  the  two  fear  is  the 
stronger.  The  savage  is  quicker  at  propitiating  an  evil 
spirit  in  order  to  preserve  himself  from  harm  than  at 
showing  gratitude  to  a  benignant  one.  The  early  Egyp- 
tians worshiped  animals  and  trees  with  especial  fervor. 
Of  the  tree  cult  we  do  not  know  more  than  that  every 
nome  had  its  sacred  trees ;  that  the  sycamore  was  sacred 
to  the  goddess  Hathor,  and  that  one  of  the  gods  bore  the 
name  Cheri-baqef  u  He-in-his-oil-tree  " — i.  e.,  the  spirit 
dwelling  in  the  oil-tree.  Of  the  animal  worship  we  know 
a  little  more.  Both  motives  of  primitive  cults,  love  and 
fear,  must  have  operated  on  the  Egyptian  mind  in  this 
cult.  The  evil  spirits  that  dwell  in  the  lion,  the  crocodile, 
the  hippopotamus,  must  be  propitiated,  and  to  this  end 
the  animal  must  be  worshiped ;  the  primitive  mind  can 
not  abstract  the  spirit  from  the  animal  it  has  chosen  for  a 
dwelling-place.  Again,  it  can  scarce  have  been  fear  that 
impelled  the  worship  of  the  bull,  the  cow,  and  such  useful 
scavengers  as  the  ibis,  the  vulture,  and  the  sparrow-hawk. 
Even  in  later  times,  when  animism  no  longer  prevailed, 
some  traces  of  this  early  animal  cult  still  remained  in 
that  various  animals  were  looked  upon  as  sacred  to  the 
gods.  How  the  sacred  animals  came  to  be  connected 
with  their  divinities  we  do  not  undertake  to  say.  We 
shall  here  confine  ourselves  to  an  enumeration  of  the 
various  sacred  animals.     The  oldest  and  chief  of  these 


24  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

were  the  Apis-bull,  sacred  to  Ptah,  and  the  Mnevis-bull, 
sacred  to  Raharmachis ;  the  cow  was  sacred  to  Isis, 
Hathor,  and  Nephthys ;  the  ram  to  Amon  and  Chnum ; 
the  cat  to  Ra,  Sochet,  Bast,  and  Tefnut ;  the  lion  to  P6- 
chet  and  Sochet ;  the  ibis  and  cynocephalus  were  sacred 
to  Thot ;  the  jackal  was  sacred  to  Anubis,  the  sparrow- 
hawk  to  Horus,  the  vulture  to  Nechebet,  the  asp  to  Ouatj, 
and  the  crocodile  to  Sebek.  Frequently  the  deities  were 
depicted  with  the  heads  of  their  sacred  animals.  Thus 
Horus  always  has  the  head  of  a  sparrow-hawk,  Chnum 
that  of  a  ram,  Thot  that  of  an  ibis  ;  Nephthys  and  Hathor 
are  cow-headed,  a  solar  disk  being  fixed  between  the 
horns.  Other  examples  could  be  given,  but  these  will 
suffice. 

From  this  early  animism  was  developed  in  the  course 
of  time  a  polydcemonism — i.  e.,  a  belief  in  many  demons 
or  spirits.  This  is  the  second  stage  in  religious  develop- 
ment ;  the  spirit  has  been  abstracted  from  the  animal, 
plant,  or  thing  it  inhabited  and  possessed,  and  has  been 
given  a  separate,  independent  existence.  From  this  poly- 
dccmonisin  was  later  on  developed  polytheism,  or  the  be- 
lief in  many  gods.  How  these  changes  came  about  we 
can  not  say ;  for,  when  we  first  come  upon  the  Egyptian 
religion,  it  has  gone  through  all  of  these  stages,  but  it  has 
retained  numerous  traces  of  this  early  development.  This 
development  must  have  taken  place  in  the  various  nomes 
before  their  union  and  independently  in  each,  for  they  pre- 
sent to  us  very  varied  religious  beliefs.  Each  nome  had  its 
own  peculiar  local  divinities  and  its  own  local  theosophy. 
The  head  of  the  local  pantheon  had  his  temple  in  the  local 
capital.  These  local  divinities  were  all  supreme  in  their 
own  localities,  and  it  is  them  that  the  people  worshiped, 
whatever  divinity  might  be  the  head  of  the  national  pan- 
theon. Every  house  had  attached  to  it  a  chapel,  in  which 
the  local  divinities  were  worshiped.  These  local  deities 
were  all,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  recognized  by  the  national 
government  as  the  guardian  deities  of  their  respective 
localities.  The  national  religion  was,  in  return,  recognized 
by  the  various  local  governments,  and  the  head  of  the 
national  pantheon  had  dedicated  to  him  a  chapel  in  each 
of  the  local  temples.  The  various  religions  of  these 
nomes,  all  in  themselves  polytheistic,  united  after  the  union 
to  form  that  composite  whole — the  Egyptian  religion— 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  25 

which  we  may  well  designate  as  an  agglomerated  poly- 
theism.  Thus  we  see  that,  just  as  from  the  union  of  the 
nomes,  and,  finally,  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  resulted 
the  Egyptian  state,  so  from  a  union  of  the  local  relig- 
ions of  these  nomes  resulted  the  Egyptian  religion.  It 
has  been  already  mentioned  above  that  Nechebet  was  re- 
garded as  the  guardian  divinity  of  the  South  and  Ouatj  as 
that  of  the  North. 

In  many  localities  the  head  of  the  local  pantheon  had 
associated  with  him  two  other  divinities,  who  shared  his 
eminence  and  formed  with  him  what  we  call  a  triad. 
Such  a  triad  consisted  generally  of  father,  mother,  and 
son.  Thus,  the  triad  of  Memphis  embraced  Ptah,  his  wife 
Socket,  and  their  son  Imhotep  ;  that  of  Abydos,  Osiris,  his 
wife  Isis,  and  their  son  Horus  ;  and  that  of  Thebes, 
Amon,  his  wife  Mut,  and  their  son  Chonsu.  But  we  also 
find  triads  consisting  of  one  male  and  two  female  mem- 
bers— possibly  father,  mother,  and  daughter — e.  g.,  that 
of  Elephantine  :  Chnum,  Satet,  and  Anuket. 

Another  combination  of  gods  is  the  ennead,  or  circle  of 
nine  gods.  The  ennead  first  appears  in  the  fourth  Dynasty 
(about  3000  B.  a).  It  consists  of  nine  members,  com- 
bined in  an  apparently  arbitrary  manner:  1.  Shu;  2. 
Tefnut;  3.  Qeb  ;  4.  Nut ;  5.  Osiris ;  6.  Isis  ;  7.  Horus ; 
8.  Set ;  9.  Nephthys ;  where  Shu  and  Tefnut  are  broth- 
er and  sister,  Qeb  and  Nut  man  and  wife,  parents  of 
Osiris,  Isis,  Set,  and  Nephthys  ;  Osiris,  Iris,  and  Horus 
are  father,  mother,  and  son ;  and  Set  and  Nephthys  man 
and  wife.  The  ennead  was  originated  by  the  priests  of 
On-Heliopolis  in  order  to  bring  into  closer  connection  the 
various  local  religions.  These  priests  claim  that  it  was 
originated  by  Turn,  a  solar  deity,  who  was  in  Heliopolis 
considered  the  leader  of  the  ennead,  though  standing  out- 
side of  it.  In  fact,  the  ennead,  which  had  national  ac- 
ceptance, was  everywhere  assigned  a  different  deity,  the 
head  of  the  local  pantheon  as  leader,  though  its  member- 
ship remained  fixed,  except  that  in  later  times  Set  was 
eliminated,  and  Horwer,  a  form  of  the  god  Horus,  or  Thot, 
put  in  his  place. 

To  many  of  the  Egyptian  gods  there  has  been  ascribed 
a  cosmological  origin.  Thus  Ptah  of  Memphis  and 
Chnum  of  Elephantine  were  in  the  very  first  line  con- 
sidered as  world-builders,  or,  to  use  the  scientific  term,  as 


26  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

lemiurgoi,  while  the  priests  of  On-Heliopolis  ascribed  the 
same  function  to  Rd  and  Turn.  But  we  must  not  wonder 
at  this  multitude  of  world-builders.  It  is  but  consistent 
with  the  entire  character  of  the  Egyptian  religion ;  it  is 
but  natural  that  the  important  office  of  world-builder 
should  be  ascribed  in  every  locality  to  the  head  of  the 
local  pantheon. 

These  were  not,  however,  the  cosmological  gods 
proper.  There  was  a  number  of  other  gods  of  undoubted 
cosmological  origin  that-  had  not  the  slightest  connection 
with  any  pantheon,  some  of  which  were  worshiped  by  the 
people  generally,  while  others  were  mere  speculative  dei- 
ties, the  full  import  of  which  was  known  to  the  priesthood 
alone.  One  of  the  chief  divinities  of  the  former  class  was 
Ranutet,  the  goddess  of  the  harvest,  who  was  recognized 
and  worshiped  throughout  the  land.  She  had  her  chapels 
in  the  granaries  and  her  altars  in  the  open  field,  and  was 
ardently  worshiped  by  the  great  land-owners  as  well  as 
by  the  small  farmers.  Of  her  official  cult  we  know  noth- 
ing. Another  popular  cosmological  figure  was  Hdpi,  the 
god  of  the  Nile,  of  whose  cult  in  the  times  of  the  New 
Empire  (B.C.  1 530-1050)  we  are  well  informed.  Hun- 
dreds of  hymns  addressed  to  him  have  come  down  to  us, 
all  expressing  a  fervent  devotion  and  sincere  gratitude  for 
his  many  good  offices.  Thousands  of  statuettes  repre- 
senting the  god  have  also  been  preserved.  With  time  he 
assumed  a  national  importance  rivaled  only  by  the  heads 
of  the  great  national  religions,  Ptah,  Rd,  Osiris,  and 
Amon.  This  is  but  natural,  for  it  is  to  this  stream  that 
Egypt  owes  all  its  prosperity  —  ay,  its  very  existence. 
Min,  the  agricultural  god  of  Qebti  (Coptos,  fifth  Upper 
Egyptian  nome),  also  belongs  to  this  class  of  divinities. 
A  typical  representative  of  the  second  class  is  Chepra, 
the  god  of  the  mysterious  Becoming ;  he  was  a  purely 
theosophical  figure,  and  had  no  hold  on  the  popular 
mind. 

Results  of  cosmological  speculation  are  likewise  the 
"  eight  gods  of  the  elements,"  so  called— the  ogdoas  of 
Ckmunu-HermopoliSy  the  home  of  Thot.  They  appear 
in  four  couples:  1.  Nun  and  Nut\  2.  Heh  and  Hehet\ 
3.  Keh  and  Keket ;  and  4.  Nenu  and  Nenut.  Originally 
there  were  only  the  four  male  divinities,  as  they  appear  in 
the  paintings  on  the  walls  of  the  tomb  of  Seti  I  (died  about 


IN  TROD  UCTOR  Y.  27 

1300  B.  C.) ;  the  goddesses  are  later  additions,  their  na^e 
being  merely  the  feminine  forms  of  those  of  the  male  di- 
vinities. The  meaning  ascribed  to  them  is  this:  1.  Nun 
is  the  male  generative  principle  of  the  universe,  the  father 
of  Rd,  Nut  is  the  female  conceptive  principle,  while  to- 
gether they  personify  the  original  chaos;  2.  Heh  and 
Hehet  personify  eternity;  3.  Kek  and  Keket,  darkness; 
and,  4.  Nenu  and  Nenut,  moisture.  The  full  develop- 
ment of  this  curious  cosmological  doctrine  seems  to  be- 
long to  a  later  theosophy.  Another  cosmological  couple 
are  Shu  and  his  sister  Tefnut.  Shu  is  the  god  that  sup- 
ports the  heavens,  and  is,  in  all  probability,  a  personifica- 
tion of  the  atmosphere.  His  sister  Tefnut  owes  her  ex- 
istence merely  to  the  desire  of  giving  every  god  a  female 
companion.  Qeb  and  Nut,  his  wife,  are  also  a  cosmologi- 
cal couple.  He  is  a  personification  of  the  earth,  she  of 
the  heavens.  They  are  given  a  place  in  one  of  the  ac- 
knowledged national  religions  as  parents  of  Osiris,  Isis, 
Set,  and  Nephthys  (Egyptian  name,  Nebhaf). 

There  were  several  deities  that  owed  their  existence  to 
pure  speculation  and  had,  as  a  rule,  no  connection  with 
the  pantheons.  The  most  important  of  these  was  Mat, 
the  goddess  of  truth  and  justice,  who  is  the  personification 
of  these  qualities.  She  had  national  importance  as  lady- 
patroness  of  justice  and  its  ministers,  the  judges,  who 
were  all  priests  of  Mat.  There  is  little  reason  to  doubt 
the  statement  of  Herodotus  that  the  judges  wore  her  pict- 
ure on  their  breasts.  Of  her  cult,  however,  we  know 
nothing.  Sdfchet,  the  goddess  of  wisdom,  of  which  she 
is  a  personification,  was  regarded  as  the  wife  of  Thot,  and 
was  no  doubt  a  very  old  figure  in  the  theosophy  of 
Chmunu-Hermopolis.  Thot  himself  is  a  result  of  specu- 
lation, the  personification  of  learning  and  wisdom ;  the 
scribe  of  the  gods,  and  as  such  the  patron  of  scribes.  He 
has  in  this  capacity  national  recognition.  His  home, 
Chmunu,  seems  to  have  been  a  great  seat  of  speculative 
theosophy. 

Besides  these  many  divinities — and  our  space  has  not 
permitted  us  to  name  more  than  the  most  important  ones 
— untold  legions  of  demons,  some  attached  to  a  particular 
pantheon,  others  floating  about  in  wild  and  unrestrained 
freedom,  help  to  complicate  the  religion.  Osiris  alone 
had  forty-two  demons  attached  to  his  person  as  associate 


28  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

judges  in  the  court  that  sat  in  the  Lower  World — in  that 
part  of  it  known  as  the  "  hall  of  the  two  truths  " — and 
tried  the  departed  souls  to  judge  of  their  worthiness  to 
enter  the  blessed  abodes.  Each  of  these  had  a  peculiarly- 
absurd  name,  which  the  dead  man  had  to  know  and  to 
each  one  he  had  to  make  a  special  negative  confession. 
Besides  these  forty-two  judges,  unnumbered  good  and  evil 
spirits  peopled  the  Lower  World,  all  of  which  the  dead 
man  had  to  know  and  name  at  sight.  It  is  only  of  these 
spirits  of  the  Amenti,  as  the  Egyptians  called  the  Lower 
World,  that  we  know  the  names  and,  to  some  extent,  the 
natures.  It  was,  by  the  by,  far  more  important  to  know 
the  former  than  the  latter,  for  by  merely  calling  him  by 
name  the  dead  man  could  bring  to  his  aid  a  good  spirit  or 
exorcise  an  evil  one.  To  know  the  demon  was  to  have 
power  over  him,  so  that  the  outlook  of  the  poor  soul  was 
not  so  bad,  after  all.  The  rite  of  circumcision,  so  exten- 
sively practiced  by  the  ancient  Egyptians,  has  been  brought 
into  connection  with  this  belief  in  demons.  It  is  conject- 
ured that  this  rite  was  originally  a  substitute  for  human 
sacrifice  which  may  have  been  practiced  in  prehistoric 
times. 

Now,  we  inquire  in  what  relation  the  various  local  re- 
ligions stood  to  one  another.  Part  of  them  remained  in 
obscurity,  having  only  local  significance ;  part  came  with 
time  to  have  national  import ;  and  it  is  now  our  object  to 
inquire  into  the  cause  of  this.  Eight  of  these  religions 
came  with  time  to  have  national  sway :  those  of  Ptah  of 
Memphis,  of  Rd  of  Heliopolis,  Osiris  of  Abydos,  Anion 
of  Thebes,  Sebak  of  Crocodolilopolis,  Neit  of  Sais,  Hathor 
of  Denderah,  and  Horus  of  Edfu.  The  causes  of  this  lay- 
partly  in  the  character  of  the  religion  itself,  partly  in  the 
history  of  the  nation.  Three  religions  seem  to  have  come 
into  prominence  much  at  the  same  time :  those  of  Rd, 
Osiris,  and  Ptah.  Rd  owes  his  early  prominence  to  the 
fact  that  he  was  the  solar  deity  par  excellence ;  he  was 
looked  upon  as  the  first  divine  king  of  Egypt.  His  re- 
ligion is  of  peculiar  interest  to  us,  for  it  finally  culminated 
in  a  solar  monotheism  under  Amenhetep  IV  (about  1382- 
1370  B.  C.),  who  set  up  Aten,  the  solar  disk,  as  the  su- 
preme and,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  only  god  of  Egypt. 
After  the  suppression  of  this  reform,  Rd  seems  rapidly  to 
have  lost  his  national  prestige,  and  to  have  sunk  to  the 


INTRODUCTORY,  29 

rank  of  the  local  deity  of  Heliopolis,  becoming  merged 
with  Amon  as  Amon-Rd.  Osiris  also  owes  his  early 
prominence  to  religious  reasons.  He  was  god  of  the 
dead,  the  ruler  of  the  Amenti,  and  as  such  was  a  promi- 
nent figure  in  all  epochs  of  Egyptian  history.  Together 
with  him,  Horus,  and  his  mother  /sis,  and  Nebhat  (Neph- 
thys),  the  sister  of  Osiris,  came  into  prominence.  Set,  his 
brother,  gained  an  unenviable  notoriety  through  the  Osiris 
mythology,  as  the  evil  god — the  great  enemy  of  his  brother 
Osiris.  Anubis  is  also  drawn  into  the  circle  by  being 
made  the  son  of  Osiris  and  Nebhat.  Ptah  was  originally 
merely  the  head  of  the  Memphitic  pantheon,  and  as  such 
was  no  more  than  the  head  of  any  other  local  pantheon. 
The  rise  of  Mena,  however,  the  union  of  the  North  and 
South,  and  the  fact  that  through  this  union  Memphis  be- 
came the  capital  of  the  united  kingdom,  gave  him  a  com- 
manding place  in  the  national  pantheon.  He  became  the 
god  of  the  government,  and,  as  such,  the  chief  god  of  the 
nation ;  and,  even  after  Amon  had  succeeded  him  in  this 
position,  he  held  a  high  place  in  the  religion  until,  under 
the  Ptolemies,  he  was  merged  with  Osiris  into  the  new 
god  Serapis,  who  was  imported  from  Asia  Minor  and 
given  out  as  a  union  of  Osiris  and  the  Apis-bull,  the  sacred 
animal  of  Ptah.  At  the  close  of  the  Old  Empire  (about 
2400  B.  C.)  there  is  a  gap  in  Egyptian  history,  and  it  is 
not  until  2100  B.  C.  that  we  again  stand  on  firm  ground, 
and  then  it  is  Thebes  that  is  the  capital  of  Egypt ;  and,  as 
a  consequence,  the  head,  of  its  local  pantheon,  Amon,  a 
deity  hitherto  obscure,  is  the  official  head  of  the  national 
pantheon.  He  retained  this  position  throughout  the  elev- 
enth and  twelfth  dynasties,  but  in  the  thirteenth  dynasty 
(about  1930  B.  C.)  he  seems  to  have  surrendered  the  su- 
premacy to  Sebak,  of  Crocodilopolis  in  the  Fayoum.  Sebak 
did  not  retain  his  position  long,  for  the  thirteenth  dynasty 
ended  in  anarchy,  and  soon  after  its  fall  the  Hyksos  in- 
vaded Egypt.  For  several  centuries  the  foreign  invaders 
ruled  supreme;  but  about  1530  B.  C.  they  were  driven  out 
by  Aahmes  I,  a  Theban  king,  and  Thebes  again  became 
the  capital  of  Egypt.  As  one  consequence  of  this,  Amon 
again  became  the  official  head  of  the  pantheon.  But 
about  1400  B.  C.  he  was  again  dethroned,  when  King 
Amenhetep  IV  (Chuenaten)  instituted  the  religious  re- 
form above  mentioned.     Unfortunately,  the  reform  was 


30  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

short-lived,  dying  soon  after  its  founder.  Again,  Anion, 
now  called  Amon-Rd,  ruled  supreme.  Through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  Egyptian  history  he  held  his  own,  even  ex- 
tending his  sway  to  the  neighboring  kingdom  of  Napata, 
founded  in  Ethiopia  early  in  the  tenth  century  B.  C, 
probably  by  the  descendants  of  the  priest-kings  of  Dynasty 
XXI,  who  had  been  driven  from  Egypt  by  Sheshong  I, 
until,  finally,  when  Psemtek  I  founded  the  twenty-sixth 
dynasty,  he  gave  way  to  Neit  of  Sais.  She  seems  to  have 
retained  the  place  at  the  head  of  the  national  pantheon 
until  the  times  of  the  Ptolemies,  when  Hathor  of  Denderah 
and  Horus  of  Edfu  shared  the  supremacy  with  Serapis. 
They,  too,  finally  passed  away  with  the  advent  of  Chris- 
tianity. Alone  of  all  the  old  deities  Isis  retained  her 
sway,  even  in  Christian  times,  well  into  the  fourth  century 
A.  D.  on  the  Island  of  Philse ;  but  she,  too,  finally  yielded, 
and  passed  away  before  the  new  religion. 

Such  is  as  adequate  a  sketch  of  the  Egyptian  religion 
as  can  be  given  in  the  space  allotted.  The  reader  will 
observe  that  the  religion  was  not  a  homogeneous  whole, 
the  result  of  a  continuous  development  along  one  line  of 
thought,  but  a  heterogeneous  mass,  the  resultant  of  the 
union  of  a  large  number  of  religions,  each  of  itself  poly- 
theistic in  nature ;  and  that  with  so  little  fusion  of  the 
component  parts  that  we  have  all  through  the  history  of 
this  curious  religion  three  ox  four — and  in  later  times  as 
many  as  eight — essentially  different  religions  having  na- 
tional recognition  and  a  large  number  of  local  religions 
running  side  by  side.  The  reader  will  further  observe 
that  there  is  no  trace  of  an  "  original  monotheism,"  and 
that  the  monotheism  which  was  developed  from  the  Rd- 
religion  was  a  very  imperfect  one,  and  was,  far  from  being 
"  original,"  the  result  of  many  centuries  of  thought  and 
speculation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  OLD  EMPIRE — FROM  THE  UNION  OF  THE  UPPER 
AND  LOWER  COUNTRIES  TO  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE 
SIXTH   DYNASTY— ABOUT   3200-2400   B.  C. 


^uThe  First  Dynasty. 

Mena  (3200  B.  a). — The  great  king  who  first  united 
Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  into  one  country  lived  not  later 
than  3200  B.  C.  How  many  years  earlier  he  lived  we  have 
no  means  of  saying ;  he  may  have  lived  five  hundred  or 
even  a  thousand  years  earlier ;  but,  until  we  can  assign 
him  an  accurately  correct  date,  it  is  best  to  retain  the  one 
here  given.  Naturally  he  occupies  a  high  place  in  Egyp- 
tian tradition,  being  regarded  as  the  first  human  king  of 
the  country.  His  birthplace  was  the  small  town  of  Tent 
(Greek,  This),  near  Abydos.  This  town  was  not,  how- 
ever, favorably  located  for  the  capital  of  a  great  empire ; 
so  Mena  left  it,  and  removed  the  seat  of  the  government 
to  the  city  of  Memphis,  which  lay  on  the  Nile  a  little  to 
the  south  of  the  apex  of  the  Delta.  This  city  was  the 
home  of  the  god  Plan,  who  thus  became  the  official  head 
of  the  Egyptian  pantheon.  The  site  of  this  city  was  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Nile,  a  little  above  the  modern  city  of 
Cairo.  At  the  modern  village  of  Mitrahine  a  few  mounds 
of  rubbish  and  some  scattered  ruins  still  mark  the  place 
where  once  stood  one  of  the  greatest  and  richest  cities  of 
all  antiquity.  The  Egyptian  name  of  the  city  was  Afen- 
nefer — "  the  good  (or  beautiful)  abode  " — from  which  the 
Greek  name  Memphis,  by  which  we  designate  the  city, 
was  derived.  Every  city  of  ancient  Egypt  had  two  names 
— a  common  orprofane  name  and  a  sacred  name,  derived 
either  from  the  name  of  its  god  or  from  some  mythological 
event  located  at  it.  The  sacred  name  of  Men-nefer  was 
Het-ka-Ptak,  "the  abode  of  the  spirit  of  Ftak."     It  was 


32  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

defended  by  a  citadel  called  "  anbuhetj,"  "  the  white  wall." 
The  city  itself  was  probably  far  older  than  the  time  of 
Mena ;  but,  in  transferring  the  capital  to  it,  the  king  nat- 
urally greatly  enlarged  it,  and  came  to  be  considered, 
first,  its  benefactor,  and  later  on  its  founder.  What  we 
know  of  this  king  has  come  to  us  through  the  Greek  his- 
torians and  Manetho.  All  that  is  usually  ascribed  to  the 
founders  of  empire  is  ascribed  to  him.  The  legends  re- 
lated of  him  are  mostly  absurd.  He  is  said  to  have 
founded  the  temple  of  Ptah  at  Memphis,  which  was  the 
first  Egyptian  temple,  to  have  first  organized  the  temple 
ritual,  and  to  have  introduced  the  cult  of  the  Apis-bull — 
all  of  which  stories  are  alike  incredible.  As  above  noted, 
Memphis  and  its  cult  existed  long  before  Mena's  time. 
He  is  also  said  to  have  invented  the  alphabet.  The  most 
absurd  story  is  that  told  by  Diodorus,  who  relates  that  the 
king  had  once  upon  a  time,  when  pursued  by  his  own 
hounds,  fled  into  Lake  Mceris,  and  had  been  brought  to 
shore  by  a  crocodile ;  and,  in  gratitude  for  this  rescue,  he 
had  built  Crocodilopolis  on  the  lake-shore,  had  instituted 
the  crocodile-cult,  and  given  over  the  lake  to  these  sauri- 
ans.  Then  he  had  built  a  pyramid  here  for  his  tomb,  and 
had  founded  the  celebrated  labyrinth.  In  reality  the 
"lake"  did  not  yet  exist  in  these  early  times,  having  been 
built  by  Amenhetep  III  almost  two  thousand  years 
later.  Crocodilopolis,  the  pyramid,  and  the  labyrinth  were 
built  by  this  same  pharaoh.*  Almost  as  absurd  is  the 
legend  that  he  was  an  effeminate  king,  devoted  to  the 
pleasures  of  the  table,  and  had  first  taught  his  subjects 
to  take  a  reclining  posture  while  eating.  In  the  first  place, 
founders  of  empire  are  not  made  of  such  stuff;  and,  in  the 
second  place,  the  custom  in  Egypt  was  not  to  recline,  but 
to  sit  at  table.  The  king  is  also  represented  as  a  patron 
of  poets.  More  trustworthy  is  what  Manetho  tells  us  of 
this  king.  He  was  a  mighty  warrior,  wrho  campaigned  in 
Lybia,  and  was  killed  by  a  hippopotamus.  This  agrees 
well  with  what  we  would  expect  of  a  founder  of  empire 
— he  was  a  warlike  ruler,  and  was  killed  while  hunting. 
According  to  Manetho,  he  ruled  about  sixty  years. 

*  The  word  pharaoh,  which  was  taken  over  into  the  modern 
languages  from  the  Bible,  is  derived  from  the  Egyptian  word  per  da 
— "  the  great  house  " — a  common  designation  of  the  king. 


THE   OLD  EMPIRE.  33 

Teta,  whom  the  Greek  writers  called  Atothis  I,  suc- 
ceeded Mena.  According  to  the  extract  from  Manetho, 
made  by  Africanus,  he  ruled  fifty-seven  years ;  according 
to  that  made  by  Eusebius,  he  reigned  only  twenty-seven. 
Manetho  relates  that  he  built  the  citadel  of  Memphis,  and 
wrote  a  work  on  anatomy.  This  latter  notice  is  to  some 
extent  confirmed  by  a  passage  of  the  medical  "  Papyrus 
Ebers,"  in  which  a  hair-restorer  is  said  to  have  been  in- 
vented by  Skesh,  the  mother  of  our  ruler.  A  two-headed 
crane  is  said  to  have  appeared  in  his  reign — a  phenome- 
non that  presaged  a  long  period  of  prosperity.  Of  Atet 
{Atothis  II),  whom  Manetho  called  Kenkenes,  nothing  is 
known  beyond  the  fact  that  he  ruled  thirty-two  years.  In 
the  reign  of  Ata,  the  Ouenephes  of  Manetho,  who  ruled 
twenty-three  years,  a  great  famine  prevailed  in  Egypt.  He 
is  said  to  have  erected  a  pyramid  at  Kochome,  near  Saq- 
qarah.  Hesepti,  the  Usaphaides  of  Manetho,  who  ruled 
twenty  years,  is  quite  a  literary  character  among  these 
kings.  A  remedy  for  leprosy,  which  was  afterward  copied 
in  a  medical  papyrus  preserved  in  Berlin  and  in  the  "  Papy- 
rus Ebers,"  is  said  to  date  from  his  reign.  Numerous 
copies  of  the  sixty-fourth  chapter  of  the  "Book  of  the 
Dead  "  assert  that  this  chapter  was  "  discovered  "  in  his 
reign,  and  not  in  that  of  Mycerinos,  while  all  copies  agree 
that  the  one  hundred  and  thirtieth  chapter  dates  from  this 
reign.  Merbapen,  the  Miebidos  of  Manetho,  reigned 
nineteen  years.  He  must  have  been  quite  an  important 
ruler,  for  the  list  of  kings  discovered  at  Saqqarah  begins 
with  his  name.  Semenptah,  the  Semempses  of  Mane- 
tho, ruled  eighteen  years.  It  is  related  that  many  mira- 
cles took  place  in  his  reign,  and  that  a  great  plague  almost 
depopulated  the  land.  Of  Kebhu,  the  Blenches  of 
Manetho,  we  know  only  that  he  ruled  twenty-six  years. 

(§2.   The  Second  Dynasty7^> 

Neterbau,  the  Betjau  of  the  list  of  kings  found  at 
Abydos,  the  Boethos  of  Manetho,  reigned  thirty- eight 
years.  Manetho  relates  that  during  his  reign  an  earth- 
quake at  Bubastis  swallowed  up  many  people.  Kakau, 
the  Kaichos  of  Manetho,  reigned  twenty-nine  years.  Ac- 
cording to  Manetho,  he  introduced  the  cult  of  the  Apis-bull 
at  Memphis,  that  of  the  Menevis-bull  at  Heliopolis,  and 


34  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT, 

that  of  the  ram  at  Mendes.  This  legend  is  incredible 
and  unhistorical.  These  cults  were  all  as  old  as  the  cities 
in  which  they  were  practiced,  and  antedated  the  union  of 
the  two  countries  by  many  centuries,  Ba-en-neter, 
whom  Manetho  calls  Binothris,  reigned  forty-seven  years. 
He  seems  to  have  been  an  important  lawgiver.  If  we  can 
credit  the  account  of  Manetho,  it  was  this  pharaoh  who 
first  legalized  the  succession  in  the  female  line.  This  was 
of  great  importance  throughout  the  course  of  Egyptian 
history,  for  according  to  this  law  a  woman  could  sit  on 
the  Egyptian  throne,  and  many  a  dynasty  based  its  right 
to  the  throne  on  the  law  of  female  succession.  Of  Ouat- 
jnes,  the  Tlasol  Manetho,  we  know  only  that  he  reigned 
seventeen  years.  Sent,  called  Sethenes  by  Manetho,  who 
ruled  forty-one  years,  is  said  to  have  revised  a  medical 
treatise  written  in  the  reign  of  Hesepti.  Perabsen, 
possibly  the  Chaires  of  Manetho,  reigned  seventeen  years. 
Neferkara,  the  Nephercheres  of  Manetho,  is  said  to 
have  ruled  twenty-live  years.  Under  him,  Manetho  says, 
the  Nile  ran  honey  for  eleven  days. — Maspero,  following 
Mariette,  places  in  this  dynasty  some  monuments,  which 
are  certainly  older  than  the  times  of  the  fourth  dynasty. 
They  are  few  in  number,  but  show  certain  striking  pecul- 
iarities which  prove  that  they  belong  together.  But  we  can 
not  fully  verify  this  very  plausible  hypothesis  until  we  have 
more  of  these  monuments.  For  the  present  it  is  certainly 
better  not  to  ascribe  them  to  any  particular  period,  but  to 
say  merely  that  they  are  older  than  the  times  of  the  fourth 
dynasty.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  great  Sphinx  of 
Gizeh,  the  age  of  which  is  unknown. 

§  3.   The  Third  Dynasty. 

How  the  second  dynasty  came  to  an  end  and  the  third 
ascended  the  throne  we  do  not  know ;  in  fact,  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  first  three  dynasties  is  limited  to  the  names  of 
the  rulers  and  a  few  legends.  Neferkasokar  was  the 
first  king  of  this  dynasty.  Manetho  calls  him  Nechero- 
phes,  and  ascribes  to  him  a  reign  of  twenty-eight  years. 
The  same  historian  relates  that  in  this  reign  the  Lybians 
revolted ;  but,  as  the  battle  was  about  to  begin,  they 
became  frightened  at  seeing  the  moon  apparently  greatly 
enlarged,  and   fled   from   the  field.     Tosorthos   ruled 


THE   OLD  EMPIRE.  35 

twenty-nine  years.  Manetho  relates  that  he  was  a  great 
builder,  and  had  perfected  the  system  of  writing.  He  was 
also  a  great  physician,  and  for  this  reason  had  been  iden- 
tified with  Asclepios  by  the  Greeks.  Of  the  other  rulers 
of  this  dynasty  we  know  only  the  names.  Huni,  the  ' 
last  of  these  kings,  the  Kerpheres  of  Manetho,  who  ruled 
twenty- six  years,  was  the  immediate  predecessor  of  King 
S7iefru,  the  founder  of  the  fourth  dynasty. 

§  4.   The  Fourth  Dynasty —  The  Pyramid- Builders,  about 
2830-2700  B.  C. 

Snefru  (2830-2806  B.  C.),  the  founder  of  the  fourth 
dynastyTascended  the  throne  about  2830  B.  c.  The  change 
of  dynasty  seems  to  have  been  peaceably  accomplished. 
"  Papyrus  Prisse,"  the  only  text  that  refers  to  it,  remarks : 
"  Then  King  Huni  died,  and  King  Snefru  became  a  benefi- 
cent ruler  over  the  entire  land."  He  is  the  first  king  from 
whose  reign  monuments  have  come  down  to  us.  He  and 
his  successors  built  for  their  tombs  great  pyramids,  form- 
ing a  line  miles  in  length,  from  Gizeh  on  the  north  to 
Meydoum  on  the  south.  King  Snefru,  in  all  probability, 
is  buried  in  the  pyramid  of  Meydoum,  about  which  lie 
the  tombs  of  many  of  his  courtiers.  The  Egyptian  name 
of  the  pyramid  was  Cha  ;  its  builder  was  Henka.  Of  his- 
torical events  of  this  reign  we  know  but  little.  A  legend- 
ary papyrus  preserved  in  St.  Petersburg  tells  of  an  incur- 
sion of  the  Asiatic  Bedouins  known  as  Amu.  To  guard 
against  these  inroads  a  line  of  forts  was  established  stretch- 
ing across  the  Egyptian  part  of  the  Isthmus  of  Suez. 
This  string  of  forts  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  texts 
and  its  official  name  anbu  hegu,  "  Wall  of  the  princes," 
gave  rise  to  the  mistaken  impression  that  the  Egyptians 
had  built  a  wall  across  their  eastern  frontier.  One  of 
these  forts,  named  after  King  Snefru,  Aa  Snefru,  is  men- 
tioned in  the  memoirs  of  a  noble  who  lived  over  a  thou- 
sand years,  later.  But  King  Snefru  was  not  content  with 
repelling  the  inroads  of  the  Asiatics.  He  was  bent  on 
enlarging  his  empire.  On  the  Sinai  peninsula  there  were 
located  rich  copper  and  malachite  mines  which  the  Egyp- 
tions  worked  in  very  early  times.  Whether  Snefru  was 
the  first  king  who  opened  these  mines,  or  whether  they 
had  been  opened  to  the  Egyptians  by  some  previous  king, 
4 


36  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

we  do  not  undertake  to  say,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  he  is  the 
first  king  of  whom  monuments  have  been  found  on  the 
peninsula.  Inscriptions  at  both  of  the  great  mining  camps 
at  Sarbut  el  Chadem  and  Wadi  Maghara  tell  of  the  king's 
campaigns  against  the  Bedouins  of  the  region,  who  were 
called  Mentiu  Satet,  and  who  seem  to  have  seriously  re- 
sented the  encroachment  of  the  Egyptians.  They  were 
of  course  beaten,  but  could  never  be  wholly  subdued,  and 
gave  much  trouble  in  later  reigns.  Snefru  died  after  a 
prosperous  reign  of  twenty-four  years. 

Chufu  (2806-2782  B.  c.).— When  Snefru  died  he  left 
to  his  oldest  son  and  successor  a  great  and  flourishing 
kingdom.  This  king  is  the  Cheops  of  Herodotus.  He  is 
the  builder  of  the  largest  of  the  three  great  pyramids  of 
Gizeh,  the  measurements  of  which  are :  side  of  square 
base,  originally  764  feet,  at  present  746  feet ;  perpendicu- 
lar height,  originally  480  feet,  now  450  feet ;  and  height  of 
slope,  originally  611  feet,  at  present  568  feet.  Inside  of 
this  great  mass  of  solid  masonry  there  is  the  chamber  in 
which  the  sarcophagus  of  the  king  was  deposited.  This 
chamber  is  approached  by  a  series  of  narrow  passages, 
which  were,  after  the  sarcophagus  was  in  place,  blocked 
up  in  a  very  ingenious  manner.  The  Egyptian  name  of 
this  pyramid  was  Chut.  I  may  here  mention  some  gen- 
eral facts  which  hold  good  for  all  the  pyramids  of  Gizeh. 
Each  one  had  connected  with  it  a  funereal  temple  dedi- 
cated to  the  memory  of  the  king  buried  in  the  pyramid. 
All  of  the  pyramids  were  built  as  planned,  a  fact  that  the 
recent  measurements  of  W.  Flinders  Petrie  have  demon- 
strated beyond  a  doubt.  Thus  the  old  theory  that  every 
king  when  he  ascended  the  throne  began  a  pyramid  of 
moderate  proportions,  and  gradually  enlarged  it  as  he 
found  he  had  the  time,  is  exploded.  The  reader  will  find 
a  full  expose1  of  these  facts  in  Mr.  Petrie 's  admirable  book, 
"The  Pyramids  and  Temples  of  Gizeh."  About  each 
pyramid  lay  a  number  of  smaller  pyramids,  probably  the 
tombs  of  the  members  of  the  royal  families,  as  well  as  the 
tombs  of  the  nobles  that  had  lived  at  the  court. 

This  king  was  a  great  builder,  the  temple  of  the  *'  Lady 
of  the  Pyramids,  Isis,"  and  the  foundation  of  the  temple 
of  Hathor  at  Denderah  are  attributed  to  him.  Two  cities 
— Mendt-Chufu  (the  modern  Minye,  north  of  Hermopo- 
lis)  and  Chufukebet—bzax  his  name.     Like   his  prede- 


THE   OLD  EMPIRE.  37 

cessor,  he  was  compelled  to  make  a  campaign  against  the 
Mentiu  Satet,  on  the  Sinai  peninsula,  who  it  seems  had 
again  begun  to  molest  the  Egyptian  miners. 

The  classical  accounts  of  this  king  are  all  unreliable. 
Herodotus  gives  him  a  reign  of  fifty  years,  and  Manetho 
says  he  reigned  sixty-three,  while  we  know  from  the  Turin 
Papyrus  that  he  ruled  only  twenty-four  years.  The  clas- 
sical historians  would  also  have  him  appear  as  a  great 
tyrant,  who  closed  the  temples  in  order  that  the  Egyptians 
might  all  labor  continuously  at  his  pyramid,  and  who, 
when  money  failed  him,  prostituted  his  own  daughter 
in  order  to  raise  funds.  The  chief  responsibility  for  these 
stories  rests  on  Herodotus.  Manetho  attempts  to  recon- 
cile history  and  legend  by  relating  that  the  king,  whom  he 
calls  Soufihis,  had  repented  in  his  old  age,  and  had  written 
a  book  that  was  regarded  as  sacred. 

Radede£l2782-27  5Q  B.  a). — The  son  and  successor 
of  Chufu,  who  ruled  twenty-three  years,  did  not  build  a 
pyramid.  Why  he  departed  from  the  custom  begun  by 
his  two  predecessors  we  can  not  say ;  perhaps  the  forces 
and  resources  of  the  kingdom  were  otherwise  employed. 
We  know,  however,  absolutely  nothing  of  this  compara- 
tively long  reign. 

Chafra  (2758-2750  B.  a),  the  Chephren  of  Herodotus, 
is  thelSulfaer  of  the  second  great  pyramid  of  Gizeh,  the 
Egyptian  name  of  which  is  Ouer,  "  the  Great  One."  This 
pyramid  is  somewhat  smaller  than  that  of  Chafra's  father, 
Chufu,  but  it  is  still  of  respectable  size.  Its  dimensions 
are :  Length  of  side  of  square  base  originally,  707  feet,  now 
690  feet ;  perpendicular  height  originally,  454J  feet,  now 
447  feet ;  inclined  height  originally,  572  feet,  at  present  563 
feet.  Like  all  the  other  pyramids  of  Gizeh,  this  one  is  built 
of  blocks  of  limestone  taken  from  the  quarries  of  Turah 
(Egyptian  name,  Rodii),  in  the  hills  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  Nile,  opposite  Memphis.  All  the  pyramids  were  built 
so  that  their  sides  resembled  great  steps,  and  then  these 
steps  were  filled  in  with  granite  blocks,  so  placed  that  they 
formed  a  smooth,  continuous  inclined  surface.  Part  of 
this  coating  of  granite  is  still  left  on  the  upper  part  of  this 
pyramid.  Before  this  pyramid,  a  little  to  the  south  of  the 
great  Sphinx,  there  stands  a  large  temple  built  of  granite 
and  alabaster,  which  was  most  probably  erected  at  Cha- 
fra's order.     The  fact  that  it  stands  in  front  of  his  pyra- 


38  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

mid  proves  conclusively  that  it  was  built  after  that  struct- 
ure. In  a  well  in  the  interior  of  this  temple  were  found 
the  fragments  of  nine  exquisitely  wrought  diorite  statues 
of  the  king.  Seven  of  these  are  at  present  in  the  museum 
of  Boulaq,  one  of  them  being  almost  unharmed.  How 
these  statues  got  in  the  well  we  do  not  know.  The  tem- 
ple itself  is  also  a  mystery ;  it  may  have  been  Chafra's 
1  funereal  temple,  but  it  may  just  as  well  have  been  erected 
to  the  Sphinx,  the  image  of  Rdhartnachis,  or  to  any 
other  deity.  Of  him  also  the  classical  historians  relate 
that  he  was  a  great  tyrant,  who  systematically  oppressed 
his  subjects  in  order  to  be  able  to  complete  his  great  pyra- 
mid ;  but  there  is  absolutely  no  foundation  for  these 
stories.     He  died  after  a  reign  of  only  eight  years. 

Menkaura  (2749-2724  B.  C.),  the  Mycerinos  of 
Herodotus,  succeeded  Chafra.  Herodotus  tells  us  this 
pharaoh  was  celebrated  for  his  great  piety  and  righteous- 
ness, and  the  Egyptian  monuments  bear  this  out.  They 
tell  us  that  he  sent  out  his  son  Hordedef  to  inspect  the 
temples  of  the  land,  and  that  while  on  this  tour  of  inspec- 
tion the  prince  had  "  discovered  "  the  sixty- fourth  chapter 
of  the  "Book  of  the  Dead"  at  Hermopolis  (Chmunu). 
Some  copies  of  the  thirtieth  chapter  of  the  same  compila- 
tion state  that  it  also  was  "  found  "  in  this  reign.  Several 
later  texts  mention  this  prince  ;  the  celebrated  "  Minstrel's 
Song  "  quotes  one  of  his  sayings,  and  a  letter  written  in 
the  time  of  Ramses  II  speaks  of  the  difficulty  of  under- 
standing his  writings.  The  story,  related  by  some  Greek 
authors,  that  the  oracle  of  Buto  had  predicted  to  him  that 
he  would  die  young,  and  that  he  had  consequently  spent 
day  and  night  in  dissipation  in  order  to  double  his  life,  is 
utterly  untrustworthy.  His  tomb  is  the  third  and  smallest 
of  the  pyramids  of  Gizeh.  Its  dimensions  are :  Side  of 
square  base,  354^  feet ;  perpendicular  height,  originally 
218  feet,  now  203  feet;  height  of  incline,  originally  278 
feet,  now  261  feet.  The  order  to  erect  this  structure  and 
the  account  of  the  work  are  given  in  an  unfortunately  ex- 
tremely mutilated  inscription  in  one  of  the  tombs  of  Gizeh. 
The  name  of  the  pyramid  was  Heri.  Although  a  sys- 
tematic attempt  to  destroy  this  pyramid  was  made  in  11 96 
A.  D.,  it  is  the  best  preserved  of  all  the  pyramids  of  Gizeh. 
In  the  chamber  Vyse  found  the  stone  sarcophagus  and 
fragments  of  the  wooden  mummy-case  of  this  king.     The 


THE   OLD  EMPIRE.  39 

former  was  lost  in  a  shipwreck ;  the  latter  are  preserved  in 
the  British  Museum.  How  long  this  pharaoh  ruled  we 
can  not  say,  as  the  Turin  Papyrus  has  a  break  at  his  name. 
We  must,  therefore,  for  the  present  take  the  years  given 
by  the  most  trustworthy  of  the  classical  writers,  Manetho, 
who  states  the  king  ruled  twenty-five  years. 

Shepseskaf  (2723-2701  B.  a). — Of  this  king  we 
know  very  littleT  An  interesting  description  was  found  in 
the  tomb  of  his  favorite,  Ptahshepses.  This  man  was  born 
in  the  reign  of  Menkaura,  and  was  educated  together  with 
the  royal  princes.  His  career  as  an  official  falls  almost  en- 
tirely within  Shepseskaf ' s  reign.  This  king  gave  his  favor- 
ite his  daughter  Mdatchd  in  marriage,  and  heaped  honors 
upon  him.  It  is  a  characteristic  fact  that  neither  in  this 
biography  nor  in  any  other  inscription  of  this  time  do  we 
meet  with  any  mention  of  warlike  expeditions.  The  monu- 
ments, however,  make  frequent  mention  of  the  king's  trips 
through  the  country,  of  festivals,  and  of  buildings  erected 
by  the  pharaoh.  Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  successor 
of  Mycerinos,  whom  he  calls  Asychis,  built  a  pyramid  of 
brick,  and  enlarged  the  southern  peristyle  of  the  Ptah- 
temple  of  Memphis.  Biodorus,  who  calls  him  Sasychzs, 
mentions  him  as  one  of  the  five  great  lawgivers  of  Egypt. 
One  of  his  alleged  laws  is  mentioned  by  Herodotus :  al- 
lowing a  debtor  to  pawn  his  father's  mummy;  in  case 
the  mummy  were  not  redeemed,  he  would  lose  for  himself 
and  family  the  right  of  burial.  Diodorus  also  states  that 
this  Pharaoh  regulated  the  ritual,  and  invented  geometry 
and  the  art  of  observing  the  stars.  Of  these  stories  it  is  safe 
to  accept  only  what  relates  to  the  building  operations  of  the 
king.     According  to  Manetho,  he  ruled  twenty-two  years. 

Two  kings,  Sebercheres  and  Tamphthis,  are  mentioned 
by  Manetho  as  belonging  to  this  dynasty,  but  their  names 
have  not  yet  been  found  on  the  monuments. 


5.   The  Fifth  Dynasty  {2700-2360 >  bTc^T^ 

The  change  of  dynasty  seems  to  have  been  peaceably 
accomplished,  for  we  find  that  men  who  had  held  office 
under  the  preceding  dynasty  were  retained  by  the  kings 
of  the  new  house.  Possibly  the  direct  male  line  had  died 
out,  and  the  new  line  came  to  the  throne  by  the  right  of 
female  succession. 


40  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

Userkaf  (2700-2693  B.  c),  the  first  king  of  this  dy- 
nasty, was  the  immediate  successor  of  Shepseskaf,  as  is 
proved  by  the  inscription  of  Seckemkard,  who  held  offi- 
cial positions  under  Kings  Chafra,  Menkaura,  Shepseskaf, 
Userkaf,  and  Sahura.  All  we  know  of  this  pharaoh  is  that 
he  ruled  seven  years,  and  was  buried  in  a  pyramid  called 
Abasu. 

Sahura  (2692  2680  b.  c.)  had  to  repel  inroads  of  the 
Mentiu  Satet,  who  had  again  begun  to  molest  the  Egyp- 
tian miners  on  the  Sinai  peninsula.  He  founded  the  city 
of  Persahurd,  north  of  Esneh,  and  built  a  temple  to  the 
goddess  Socket,  the  wife  of  Ptah,  in  Memphis.  His  pyra- 
mid, Chdba,  lies  north  of  Abusir.  Sahura  ruled  twelve 
years. 

Neferarkara  (2679-2672  B.  c),  the  successor  of 
Sahura,  is  tailed  Kaka  in  the  list  of  Abydos.  He  died 
after  a  reign  of  seven  years,  and  was  buried  in  a  pyramid 
called  Ba.  Of  Shepseskara  (2761-2759  B.  a),  we 
know  only  that  he  reigned  twelve  years.  Of  Ahtes  we 
know  nothing.  Neferbara  reigned  probably  ten  years. 
Akauhor  is  another  ruler  of  whom  we  know  absolutely 
nothing. 

An,  whose  pr&nomon  was  Userenrd,  was  the  first  king 
to  adopt  a  throne-name.  Hitherto  the  kings  had  kept  the 
names  they  had  borne  as  princes,  but  now  the  kings  took 
a  new  name  on  ascending  the  throne.  This  name  was 
always  compounded  with  the  name  of  the  god  Pa,  and 
was  the  official  name  of  the  ruler,  by  which  he  was  desig- 
nated in  all  state  documents.  The  name  of  Pa  was 
chosen,  in  all  probability,  because  this  god  was  considered 
as  the  first  divine  king  of  Egypt.  The  king,  however,  re- 
tained his  old  name,  placing  before  it  the  title  Sa  Pa, 
"  Son  of  Pa."  Thus  Aris  name  now  was  King  of  Upper 
and  Lower  Egypt,  User-en-Rd,  the  son  of  Pd,  An.  Not 
content  with  these  two  names,  the  pharaohs  took  three 
other  names  on  ascending  the  throne,  answering  to  the 
three  titles  :  Horus,  Lord  of  Both  Lands,  and  Horus 
Nubti — i.  e.,  "  Horus,  the  conqueror  of  Set."  In  olden 
times  the  kings  used  one  and  the  same  name  with  these 
three  titles.  Thus,  the  full  name  of  Amenemhat  I  was : 
The  Horus,  Nem  Mesut  (Renewer  of  Births),  Lord  of 
Both  Lands,  Nem  Mesut,  Horus  Nubti,  Nem  Mesut, 
King  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egyyt,   Sehotep-ab-Pd,  the 


THE   OLD  EMPIRE,  41 

son  of  Ra,  Amenemhdt,  In  later  times  the  Pharaohs  took 
a  separate  name  with  each  title.  Thus,  the  full  name  of 
Ramses  II  was  :  Horus,  The  strong  steer,  beloved  of 
Mat,  Lord  of  Both  Lands ;  He  that  protecteth  Egypt 
and  subdueth  the  Barbarians,  Horus  Nubti,  Rich  in 
years,  great  in  victories,  King  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt,  Ra  user  mat  setep  en  Ra  (i.  e.,  Ra,  strong-  in 
truth,  chosen  of  Ra),  the  son  of  Ra,  Ramessu  tneri 
Amon  (Ramses,  beloved  of  Amon).  Frequently  other 
titles  are  added,  and  the  titulature  becomes  a  hymn  on 
the  king.  '  An  warred  on  the  Sinai  peninsula  with  the 
Mentiu  Satet,     He  died  after  a  reign  of  ten  years. 

Menkauhor  ruled  eight  years.  All  we  know  of  him 
is  triat  he,  too,  worked  the  copper  and  malachite  mines  of 
the  Sinai.  Ded-ka-Ra  Assa  ruled  twenty-eight  years. 
In  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign  he  sent  an  expedition  to 
Wadi  Maghara  on  the  Sinai.  He  is  the  first  pharaoh 
whose  name  we  meet  with  in  the  quarries  of  the  Wadi 
Hammamat,  although  undoubtedly  already  King  Chafra 
worked  them.  Unas  was  the  last  king  of  this  dynasty. 
With  his  name  the  Turin  Papyrus  concludes  a  division, 
and  sums  up  the  number  of  years  since  Mena,  in  all  six 
hundred  and  fifty.  It  thus  would  seem  that  his  death 
marked  an  epoch  in  Egyptian  history,  but  our  information 
about  this  period  is  so  meager  that  we  can  not  say  what 
great  event  can  have  taken  place  at  this  time.  Unas  had 
been  appointed  co-regent  by  his  father  Assa,  He  does 
not  seem  to  have  undertaken  any  warlike  expeditions. 
He  was,  however,  a  great  builder,  erecting  a  temple  to 
the  goddess  Hat/wr,  near  Memphis  ;  in  the  Fayoum  there 
was  a  city  called  Unas  after  him,  and  probably  founded 
by  him.  The  diorite  he  needed  for  these  works  he  quar- 
ried in  Hammamat.  After  a  reign  of  thirty  years  the  king 
died. 

§  6.    The  Sixth  Dynasty  {about  2560-2400  B.  C). 

Teta  was  the  founder  of  the  new  dynasty,  and  seems 
to  have  been  the  immediate  successor  of  Unas,  It  would 
seem,  however,  that  the  new  dynasty  did  not  gain  the 
throne  without  a  struggle ;  two  kings  are  mentioned  who 
belong  about  in  this  time — Ati  and  Imhotep — both  of 
whom  quarried  stone  in  the  Wadi  Hammamat.    They  were 


42  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

most  probably  pretenders  to  the  crown.  Teta  triumphed 
over  all  his  rivals,  and  ascended  the  throne  about  2560 
B.  c.  (?)  Whatever  struggle  there  was  seems  to  have 
been  short-lived,  and  is  not  mentioned  in  the  inscriptions. 
These  inscriptions  are  chiefly  those  of  nobles,  and  though 
they  are,  despite  their  brevity,  accurate  biographies,  re- 
counting the  possessions  and  offices  of  the  nobles  they 
treat  of,  they  touch  on  matters  of  state  only  incidentally. 
Of  the  history  of  this  king  we  know  absolutely  nothing. 
Manetho  has  preserved  a  legend  that  he  was  murdered  by 
one  of  his  body-guard.  According  to  the  same  historian, 
he  ruled  thirty  years.  This  pharaoh  was  buried  in  a 
pyramid  near  Saqqarah,  which  was  opened  in  1881.  The 
Egyptian  name  of  the  structure  was  Dedasu.  The  open- 
ing of  this  pyramid  was  of  the  greatest  importance  for 
religious  history,  but  of  none  whatever  for  secular  history, 
the  walls  being  covered  with  long  religious  texts,  contain- 
ing not  the  slightest  historical  allusion.  After  Teta,  the 
list  of  Abydos  mentions  a  King  Ouserkard,  of  whom  we 
know  nothing ;  perhaps  this  was  the  king's  throne-name, 
and  was  put  here  by  mistake. 

Meri  RgLPgni  (2530-2510  B.  a),  who  ascended  the 
throne  about  2530  B.  C,  is  the  greatest  monarch  of  this 
dynasty.  Pepi  was  the  immediate  successor  of  Teta,  but 
we  do  not  know  whether  he  was  related  to  his  predecessor 
or  not.  Pepi's  empire  embraced  all  of  Egypt  and  the 
Sinai  peninsula.  In  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  reign  he 
sent  an  expedition  to  the  Wadi  Maghara,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  punish  the  Mentiu,  who  had  again  become 
troublesome.  In  the  same  year  he  also  sent  an  expedition 
to  Rokanu  (Wadi  Hammamat)  to  quarry  stones  for  some 
temples  he  was  erecting.  His  name  also  appears  in  the 
sandstone  quarries  of  Gebel  Silsileh,  and  he  is  the  first 
king  of  whose  operations  here  we  have  any  tidings,  though 
assuredly  the  quarries  had  been  worked  by  many  of  his 
predecessors.  We  know  that  he  built  in  Tanis,  and  an 
inscription  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Denderah  relates 
that  he  had  found  the  old  plan  of  this  building  prepared 
in  King  Chufu's  time.  He  also  founded  a  city,  the  gov- 
ernor of  which,  BebcTy  is  buried  at  Shech  Said. 

The  greater  part  of  what  we  know  of  his  reign  is 
gleaned  from  the  inscription  of  a  noble  named  Una.  This 
noble  began  his  career  under  King  Teta  in  minor  offices. 


THE   OLD  EMPIRE.  43 

Under  Pepi  he  rapidly  gained  distinction,  rising  to  high 
offices.  Early  in  Pepi's  reign  he  was  made  judge,  and 
acquitted  himself  so  well  in  a  very  delicate  case  that  he 
was  given  the  exalted  title  of  "  Only  friend  to  the  pharaoh," 
and  was  appointed  governor  of  the  Nubian  district.  He 
now  conducted,  in  conjunction  with  a  justice  of  lower  rank, 
a  case  brought  by  the  king  against  Queen  Amset.  The 
case  was  a  very  delicate  one,  and  conducted  with  the  ut- 
most secrecy  ;  we  do  not  hear  the  cause  of  action,  or  the 
outcome  of  the  case.  The  king  was  highly  pleased  with 
Una's  conduct  of  this  case,  and  heaped  new  honors  upon 
him.  The  Amu  Heriuska,  as  the  Egyptians  called  the 
Syrian  Bedouins,  at  this  time  began  to  make  inroads  on 
Egyptian  territory,  and  it  was  determined  to  punish  them. 
A  vast  army  was  collected  from  all  parts  of  Egypt  and 
Nubia,  drilled  and  disciplined  under  the  direction  of  Una. 
With  this  army  he  marched  against  the  enemy,  and  in 
five  successive  campaigns  completely  routed  them  ;  their 
strongholds  were  taken  and  destroyed,  their  crops  were 
burned,  their  cattle  driven  <off,  vast  numbers  of  prisoners 
were  taken,  and  their  country  was  left  completely  devas- 
tated and  almost  depopulated.  Pepi  died  soon  after  the 
close  of  this  war,  after  a  reign  of  twenty  years,  and  was 
buried  in  his  pyramid,  which  bore  the  name  of  Men-nefer 
(the  same  as  that  of  Memphis).  This  pyramid,  which  lies 
near  Saqqarah,  was  opened  in  1881.  Its  walls  are  cov- 
ered with  long  religious  inscriptions. 

Mer-en-Ra  Horemsaf  (2509-2502  B.C.).  —  On 
Pepi's  death,  his  son  Merenrd  ascended  the  throne.  Of 
him  we  know  little  outside  of  what  Una  tells  us.  This 
noble  was  made  a  prince  by  the  new  ruler,  and  appointed 
Governor  of  the  South.  In  this  capacity  he  highly  distin- 
guished himself.  He  made  two  enumerations  of  the  South 
(i.  e.,  twice  took  the  census  of  his  province),  a  thing  that 
had  never  been  done  before,  and  that  gained  him  great 
praise  from  the  king.  He  was  then  ordered  to  bring  a 
granite  sarcophagus  and  fittings  for  the  king's  pyramid 
from  the  quarries  at  Elephantine.  The  fact  that  only  one 
man-of-war  was  needed  to  escort  six  transports  and  six 
other  vessels  is  a  significant  proof  of  the  extent  of  the 
Egyptian  power  in  these  early  times.  We  have  already 
seen  that  Pepi  I  conscripted  troops  from  the  Nubian  dis- 
tricts bordering  on  Egypt.     In  an  expedition  undertaken 


44  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

somewhat  later  Una  pressed  Nubian  tribes  into  his  service 
to  cut  timber  and  build  boats.  Most  probably  these  tribes 
had  been  subdued  already  by  King  Chufu  when  he  opened 
the  granite  quarries  on  the  First  Cataract.  These  tribes 
most  probably  stood  in  a  relation  of  semidependence  to 
Egypt.  They  certainly  retained  their  tribal  relations  and 
their  autonomy,  but  were  compelled  to  serve  in  the  Egyp- 
tian army  in  case  of  war,  and  to  assist  the  expeditions 
that  were  sent  to  Assuan.  Outside  of  this  we  know  of 
this  reign  only  that  the  king  made  a  tour  of  inspection  on 
which  he  visited  the  quarries  of  Assuan,  and  that  he  sent 
an  expedition  to  the  Wadi  Hammamat.  According  to 
Manetho,  he  ruled  only  seven  years.  He  was  entombed  in 
his  pyramid,  which  was  named  Chdnofer.  This  pyramid 
was  opened  in  1881,  and  it  was  found  that  the  walls  were 
covered  with  inscriptions  analogous  to  those  found  in  the 
pyramid  of  his  father.  In  the  sarcophagus-chamber  was 
found  the  carefully  embalmed  and  well-preserved  mummy 
of  the  king,  which  was  brought  to  Boulaq.  The  body  is 
that  of  a  young  man,  which  well  accords  with  the  short 
reign  ascribed  to  him  by  Manetho. 

Neferkara,  Pepi_U  (2501-241 1  B.C.). — On  Meren- 
ras  death  his  brother  Neferkara  ascended  the  throne. 
He  corresponds  to  Manetho's  King  Phiops,  who  ruled  one 
hundred  years,  as  the  Turin  Papyrus  gives  Pepi  II  over 
ninety  years.  All  that  we  know  of  him  is  that  he  sent  an 
expedition  to  the  copper-mines  of  Wadi  Maghara  on  the 
Sinai.  This  king  was  buried  in  a  pyramid  near  Saqqarah, 
the  Egyptian  name  of  which  was  Men-dnch.  It  was 
opened  in  1881,  and  contained  the  same  texts  as  the  oth- 
ers. The  close  of  this  dynasty  is  shrouded  in  darkness. 
We  know  a  few  of  the  names  belonging  here,  but  of  not 
one  of  the  kings  after  Pepi  II  do  we  know  the  history. 
Thus  we  hear  of  a  King  Ment-e7n-Sdf,  a  King  Nefrusy 
and  a  King  Ab. 

Neitaqer,  the  Nitocris  of  the  classical  authors,  be- 
longs in  this  dynasty,  though  we  can  not  give  her  her 
exact  place.  Her  name  is  mentioned  on  none  of  the  monu- 
ments, but  many  a  legend  is  related  of  her.  Herodotus  tells 
us  that,  after  a  reign  of  scarce  one  year,  King  Menthesou- 
phis  was  murdered,  and  his  sister  and  wife,  "  the  beautiful 
one  with  the  rosy  cheeks,"  succeeded  him.  She  resolved 
to  avenge  her  husband  and  brother.     To  this  end  she  had 


THE   OLD  EMPIRE.  45 

a  great  hall  built  underground  which  was  connected  with 
the  waters  of  the  Nile  ;  the  river  was  prevented  from  en- 
tering by  mighty  flood-gates.  To  this  hall  she  invited  all 
who  were  implicated  in  the  murder  of  her  husband  to  a 
banquet.  When  this  was  at  its  height  she  herself  opened 
the  flood-gates,  and,  the  waters  of  the  Nile  streaming  in, 
all  the  guests  perished.  Then,  to  avoid  the  vengeance  of 
the  murderers'  friends,  she  threw  herself  into  a  large 
chamber  filled  with  glowing  coal  and  was  burned  up. 
The  same  historian  further  relates  that,  in  her  reign  of 
seven  years,  she  had  enlarged  the  pyramid  of  Mycerinos, 
and  had  coated  its  apex  with  granite.  There  is  as  little 
foundation  for  one  of  these  tales  as  for  the  other.  The 
latter  story  is  disproved  by  the  fact  that  the  third  pyramid 
shows  no  traces  of  having  been  rebuilt  or  enlarged.  An 
Arabic  legend  is  also  connected  with  Nitocris,  or,  rather, 
with  the  third  pyramid.  To  the  present  day,  the  Arabs 
dwelling  about  the  pyramids  believe  that  the  ghost  of  the 
southern  pyramid  hovers  about  it  in  the  shape  of  a  beau- 
tiful naked  woman.  Whom  she  sets  eyes  on  her  smile 
infatuates  ;  but  she  is  a  great  coquette,  alternately  attract- 
ing and  repelling  her  victim  until  he  becomes  insane  and 
wanders  aimless  through  the  land.  Many  and  many  a 
one,  say  they,  has  seen  her,  especially  at  noon  and  sunset, 
hovering  about  her  pyramid. 


CHAPTER   III. 

FROM  THE  SEVENTH  DYNASTY  TO  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE 
TWELFTH — THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  AND  THE 
MIDDLE   EMPIRE — ABOUT    24OO-I930  B.  C. 

§  i.   The  Transition  Period— Dynasties  VII-XI. 

This  was  a  period  of  frequent  revolutions  ;  king  after 
king  ascended  the  throne,  but  it  was  a  long  time  before  a 
king  arose  who  succeeded  in  securing  a  firm  hold  on  the 
reins  of  state.  It  is  next  to  impossible  to  give  even  a 
chronological  list  of  the  kings  who  ruled  in  this  period, 
which  must  have  covered  some  two  hundred  years,  and 
perhaps  more.  It  is  owing  to  this  gap,  and  one  that  we 
shall  meet  with  later,  that  the  chronology  of  the  earlier 
periods  of  Egypt  is  so  very  uncertain.  From  conditions 
existing  in  the  times  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  it  would  seem 
that  the  great  hereditary  princes  of  the  realm,  the  nomar- 
choi,  succeeded  in  winning  some  considerable  independ- 
ence during  this  period.  It  is  but  natural  that,  in  a  time 
when  the  kings  felt  anything  but  secure  on  the  throne, 
they  should  seek  to  enlist  the  support  of  the  nobility,  and 
be  ready  to  purchase  that  support  by  according  them 
greater  privileges  than  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed.  These 
nobles  were  a  very  shrewd  lot,  and  no  doubt  made  the 
best  of  the  bargain  by  selling  their  support  to  the  highest 
bidder.  It  was  in  all  probability  this  inordinate  strength- 
ening of  the  nobility  that  finally  led  to  the  rise  of  the 
Theban  princes,  and  to  their  accession  to  the  throne 
under  the  founder  of  the  eleventh  dynasty.  This  was 
significant  for  the  entire  future  of  Egypt,  as  Thebes  con- 
trolled the  destinies  of  the  kingdom  for  over  a  thousand 
years. 

Manetho  gives  only  a  list  of  dynasties  for  this  period, 
as  follows : 


THE  MIDDLE  EMPIRE.  47 

VII  Dynasty:  Memphitic,  70  kings  in  70  days  (ac- 
cording- to  Eusebius,  5  kings  in  75  years). 

VIII  Dynasty:  Memphitic,  27  kings  in  146  years. 

IX  Dynasty:  from  Heracleopolis,  27  kings  in  409  years 
(Syncellus,  4  kings  in  100  years). 

X  Dynasty;,  from  Heracleopolis,  17  kings  in  185  years. 
\-^"OF"tne  names,  Manetho  gives  only  that  of  King  Ach- 
thoes,  the  founder  of  the  ninth  dynasty,  of  whom  he  relates 
that  he  was  the  most  barbarous  and  inhuman  king  that 
had  hitherto  ruled  in  Egypt.  He  committed  many  crimes, 
and  was  finally  stricken  with  insanity  and  killed  by  a 
crocodile.  It  is  a  probable  conjecture  that  Manetho 
wishes  to  convey  the  impression  that  this  king  was  a  for- 
eign invader.  In  all  probability  the  Amu  Heriusha  whom 
Una  had  so  effectually  crushed  had  been  left  alone  by 
Meri-Ras  immediate  successors,  and  had  again  gathered 
sufficient  strength  to  renew  their  attacks  on  Egypt.  If 
this  is  so,  the  attack  must  not  have  come  until  after  Ne- 
ferka-Ras  long  reign.  It  seems  that  this  time  the  bar- 
barians had  it  all  their  own  way,  and  had  finally  succeeded 
in  conquering  the  country.  This  hypothesis  receives  some 
confirmation,  however  slight,  from  the  fact  that  a  semi- 
legendary  papyrus  mentions  combats  with  the  Heriusha 
under  Kings  Chruti  and  Ameno.  Judging  from  the 
names,  Ameno  was  probably  one  of  the  kings  of  the  elev- 
enth dynasty,  and  these  battles  were  then  fought  in  de- 
livering Egypt  from  the  foreign  invader. 


§  2.   The  Middle  Empire,  Dynasties  XI  and  XII. 

The  Eleventh  Dynasty. — With  the  founder  of 
this  dynasty,  the  Theban  princes  ascended  the  throne  of 
Egypt.  These  kings  seem  to  have  delivered  Egypt  from 
the  yoke  of  the  foreign  invader — the  war  possibly  being 
begun  by  Chruti  and  Ameno — though  we  nowhere  find 
any  mention  of  this  fact.  The  first  of  these  princes  men- 
tioned in  the  lists  of  kings  is  the  erpdti  (i.  e.,  hereditary 
prince)  Antef.  The  three  succeeding  kings  are  desig- 
nated as  Hor,  and  the  fourth  successor  of  Antef  is  the 
first  one  to  bear  the  full  titulature  of  Egyptian  kings. 
From  this  fact  the  conclusion  has  been  drawn  that  the 
first  Antef  was  merely  Prince  of  Thebes ;  that  his  next 
successors  had  gradually  enlarged  their  sway  until  they 
5 


48  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

ruled  over  all  of  Upper  Egypt  and  had  assumed  the  title 
Hor — signifying  ruler  of  Upper  Egypt ;  and  that,  finally, 
the  fourth  successor  of  Antef  had  succeeded  in  conquer- 
ing all  of  Egypt,  and  had  consequently  assumed  the  full 
titulature  of  the  Egyptian  kings.  This  conjecture  is  en- 
tirely unwarranted.  It  is  probable  that  these  rulers  de- 
livered Egypt  from  the  yoke  of  the  foreign  invader,  but 
any  attempt  to  read  the  history  of  the  war  from  the  titles 
of  these  kings  is  futile.  The  founder  of  the  dynasty, 
Prince  Antef,  in  all  probability  was  the  man  with  whom 
the  national  movement  began,  though  he  possibly  died 
before  other  princes  had  recognized  his  authority,  and 
owes  his  place  in  the  list  of  kings  to  the  fact  that  his 
dynasty  based  their  claim  to  the  throne  on  him.  To 
translate  the  title  of  Hor  as  "ruler  of  Upper  Egypt,"  or 
as  "duke,"  is  not  admissible.  Hor  was  one  of  the  titles 
of  the  Egyptian  kings.  The  word  signifies  Horus,  and 
this  title  was  given  the  king  because  he  was  looked  upon 
as  the  u  Horus  on  Earth."  The  order  of  succession  of 
these  kings  is  not  certain,  and  we  therefore  deem  it  ad- 
visable to  group  them  according  to  their  names.  This 
will  give  us  two  groups,  one  of  kings  whose  names  were 
all  the  same — Antef,  and  another  of  kings  whose  names 
were  all  the  same — Mentuhdtep.  Any  other  arrangement 
would  be  equally  arbitrary,  while  lacking  the  clearness  of 
this. 

The  Antef  Kings. — Antef  da  (i.  e.,  the  Great),  with 
the  throne-name  T^aT-fechein-up-mdt,  is  the  only  king  of 
this  line  of  whose  family  relations  we  have  any  knowledge. 
A  note  on  his  sarcophagus  informs  us  that  his  younger 
brother  and  successor,  Anantef  Rd-secheni-herher-nidt, 
had  the  sarcophagus  made.  This  sarcophagus  is  in  the 
museum  of  the  Louvre ;  it  is  of  gilt  wood,  and  is  orna- 
mented with  wings  folded  protectingly  about  the  deceased. 
An  inscription  found  in  Abydos  mentions  buildings  erected 
by  him  in  this  city.  A  pyramidion,  mentioning  the  name 
of  his  wife  Mentuhdtep,  was  discovered  at  Qurnah.  The 
record  of  a  criminal  procedure  against  Theban  tomb-rob- 
bers informs  us  that  he  was  buried  in  the  Necropolis  of 
Thebes.  The  gilt-wood  sarcophagus  of  Anantef  is  in  the 
British  Museum,  his  silver-gilt  diadem  is  in  the  museum 
of  Leyden.  Nub-cheper-Rd  Anantef  is  mentioned  on  a 
statue  as  the  conqueror  of  Asiatics  and  Nubians,  but  the 


THE  MIDDLE  EMPIRE,  49 

texts  do  not  give  any  detailed  accounts  of  his  campaigns. 
His  tomb  at  Drah-abul-Neggah,  opposite  Thebes,  was 
discovered  by  Mariette  in  1860-61.  The  stele  found  in 
the  funereal  chapel  dates  from  his  fiftieth  year,  so  that  we 
know  he  reigned  fifty  years,  and  consequently  must  have 
lived  at  a  time  when  the  country  was  tranquil.  At  the 
same  place  fragments  of  two  obelisks  erected  by  this  pha- 
raoh  were  found.  An  da  (the  Great)  is  one  of  the  kings 
whose  tombs  are  mentioned  in  the  criminal  procedure 
above  alluded  to.  One  of  the  Hieratic  copies  of  the  "  Book 
of  the  Dead  "  alleges  that  the  one  hundred  and  thirtieth 
chapter  was  discovered  in  his  reign. 

The  Mentuhotep  kings  belong  to  the  same  fami- 
ly with  the 'Ante*  kings.  IVebhotep  Mentuhotep  is  known 
only  from  a  stele  found  at  Konosso,  on  which  he  is  de- 
picted as  adoring  the  local  divinities  of  that  region,  who 
"throw  all  peoples  under  his  feet " — i.  e.,  give  him  power 
over  them.  From  this  we  must  infer  that  Nebhotep  car- 
ried on  wars  in  Nubia.  Of  Rd-neb-taui  Mentuhotep  we 
know  only  that  he  sent  an  expedition  to  the  quarries  of 
the  Wadi  Hammamat  to  quarry  a  sarcophagus  for  him. 
On  this  occasion  he  caused  a  great  reservoir  to  be  cut  in 
the  rock,  so  that  the  men  "  might  not  die  of  thirst."  Ra- 
neb-chepru  MentuhStep  reigned  over  forty-six  years,  as  is 
proved  by  the  tombstone  of  a  certain  Meru,  who  died  in 
the  forty-sixth  year  of  this  reign.  We  know  of  him  only 
that  he  quarried  stone  in  Assuan.  This  pharaoh  must 
have  been  a  ruler  of  some  consequence,  for  his  name  is 
mentioned  in  all  of  the  lists  of  kings,  and  in  several  lists 
his  is  the  only  name  of  a  king  ruling  before  the  Hyksos 
invasion  that  is  mentioned. 

Sednch-ka-Rd  was  the  last  king  of  this  dynasty.  A 
very  interesting  inscription,  graven  on  the  rock  in  the 
Wadi  Hammamat,  relates  the  story  of  one  of  his  expedi- 
tions. In  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign  three  thousand  men, 
under  command  of  Henu,  started  from  Qebti,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  valley.  The  expedition  had  a  twofold  object :  first, 
to  quarry  stone  for  the  monarch's  tomb  and  sarcophagus ; 
and,  second,  to  visit  the  shores  of  Pewent — i.  e.,  the  south- 
west coast  of  Arabia  and  the  Somali  coast  on  the  African 
side  of  the  Red  Sea — on  a  trading  expedition.  Henu  ac- 
complished both  objects  successfully.  To  facilitate  the 
provisioning  of  so  large  a  detachment,  a  number  of  sta- 


50  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

tions  was  established  and  wells  sunk  along  the  line  of 
march.  Arrived  at  the  quarries,  one  detachment  of  the 
expedition  settled  down  to  work,  while  the  other  contin- 
ued its  march  to  the  sea,  which  it  reached  at  about  the 
place  where  Qoss£r  now  stands.  From  here  Henu  sent 
out  a  fleet — no  mention  is  made  of  the  building-  of  ships — 
to  the  shores  of  Pewent,  awaiting  their  return  at  QosseY. 
The  fleet  brought  back  all  the  products  of  this  country, 
consisting  of  incense,  precious  stones,  and  other  valuables. 
Meanwhile  the  stone-cutters  had  done  their  work,  and  the 
expedition  returned  to  Egypt.  This  expedition  is  memo- 
rable in  that  it  proves  that  this  pharaoh  was  firmly  deter- 
mined to  establish  a  regular  trade  with  Pewent.  The 
undertaking  was  in  a  certain  sense  a  pioneer  expedition, 
the  duty  of  which  was  to  survey  the  road  from  Oebti  to 
the  Red  Sea,  and,  by  the  establishment  of  watering  sta- 
tions, to  make  it  practicable.  The  first  king  of  whom  we 
know  that  he  followed  in  Seanch-ka-Ra's  footsteps  was 
Amenemhat  II. 

The  Twelfth  Dynast^ (2 130-1930  b.  C.).—  The 
eleventh  dynasty  had  been  a  period  of  strife ;  in  it  Egypt 
had  been  delivered  from  the  domination  of  the  foreign  in- 
vader, the  kingdom  had  been  reunified,  and  the  work-  of 
reorganizing  the  government  had  been  begun.  So  well 
had  the  last  rulers  of  this  dynasty  done  their  work,  that 
Sednck-ka-Rd  could  undertake  the  work  of  opening  a  road 
through  the  Wadi  Hammamat,  from  Qebti  to  the  Red 
Sea ;  and  of  laying  the  first  fou«dations  of  a  direct  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  the  coast  of  southwestern  Arabia 
and  the  Somali  coast.  To  what  extent  the  work  of  reor- 
ganization was  completed  when  Amenemhat  I  ascended 
the  throne  we  do  not  know,  as  but  few  monuments  of  the 
kings  immediately  preceding  him  have  come  down  to  us. 
Of  the  times  embraced  by  the  twelfth  dynasty  wre  have, 
however,  a  fair  knowledge.  Though  the  buildings  erected 
by  the  kings  of  this  dynasty  have  disappeared,  yet  the 
numerous  inscriptions  that  have  been  preserved  in  all  parts 
of  Egypt  contain  records  of  their  doings.  Much  of  our 
knowledge  of  this  period  we  owe  to  the  tombs  discovered 
at  Benihassan  and  Bersheh.  But  even  here  it  is  not  yet  pos- 
sible to  give  details,  or  to  fully  understand  all  the  condi- 
tions that  led  to  the  rise  and  the  fall  of  this  house. 

Sehotep-ab-Ra,  Amenemhat  (2 130-2100  B.C.). 


MAP  OF 

AETHIOPI^ 

SHOWING  iDHB 

Extant  of  the  EgyptTa 
QpjiquesJs  and  the 
Location  of  the 
Capital. 

SCALE  OF  MILES 


THE  MIDDLE  EMPIRE.  51 

— About  the  year  2130  Kilig_Ameil£mhiXJ  ascended  the 
throne  of  Egypt.  What  claim  he  had  to  the  crown  we 
are  not  told,  but  in  all  probability  he  was  related  to  the 
last  king  of  the  preceding  dynasty.  The  change  of  dynasty 
was  not  accomplished  without  severe  internal  dissensions. 
Several  inscriptions  allude  to  these  disturbances,  but  give 
no  details.  The  new  pharaoh  was  equal  to  the  occasion  ; 
he  defeated  the  rebels,  and  then  set  to  work  to  reorganize 
his  kingdom.  One  of  his  first  measures  was  to  curb  the 
power  of  the  nobles  who  had  become  semi-independent. 
The  principle  of  heredity  he  dared  not  abolish,  but  he 
regulated  the  succession.  When  an  old  nomarchos  died 
the  king  chose  his  successor  from  his  heirs-at-law,  and 
thus  bound  the  new  prince  to  his  person.  He  also  per- 
sonally superintended  a  new  survey  of  the  whole  country. 
It  would  seem  that,  during  the  periods  of  anarchy,  foreign 
domination,  and  restoration,  following  on  the  decline  of  the 
Old  Empire,  the  Egyptian  kings  had  not  possessed  the 
leisure  or  the  power  to  adjust  disputes  concerning  bound- 
aries which  had  arisen  among  the  nobles.  The  stronger 
had  preyed  upon  the  weaker,  and  many  a  prince  had 
seized  the  occasion  of  enlarging  his  domain.  Amenemhat 
made  a  tour  of  inspection  through  the  country,  personally 
hearing  complaints  and  readjusting  the  boundaries.  He 
thus  succeeded  in  reorganizing  his  kingdom  in  a  very 
short  time,  and,  when  order  was  once  restored,  he  was 
the  man  to  keep  it  with  an  iron  hand.  This  policy  enabled 
him  early  in  his  reign  to  turn  his  attention  to  foreign  af- 
fairs. He  marched  against  the  Libyan  tribe  of  the  Mat- 
jiu  and  conquered  them.  He  also  warred  on  the  Asiatic 
frontier  against  the  Bedouins  of  the  Syrian  Desert.  In 
the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his  reign  he  led  his  forces  into 
Nubia,  and  entirely  subdued  the  Ouaoua — a  tribe  that  had 
begun  to  give  trouble.  Like  all  the  pharaohs,  he  was  a 
great  Duilder.  Traces  of  his  work  have  been  found  at 
Tanis,  Abydos,  Memphis,  and  Karnak.  The  relics  of  his 
work  found  at  Karnak  are  of  great  importance,  as  they 
prove  that  the  great  temple  of  Amon  was  founded  by  this 
ruler.  The  stone  needed  for  these  buildings  was  quarried 
m  the  limestone  quarries  of  Turah  (Ed  du),  opposite  Mem- 
phis, in  the  diorite  quarries  of  the  Wadi  Hammamat,  and 
in  the  granite  quarries  of  Assuan.  In  the  sixteenth  Upper 
Egyptian  nome  he  built  a  city  called  Hdt-Sehotep-ab-Rd, 


52  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

as  also  a  fort  called  Amenemhdt-Ded-Taui.  This  pha- 
raoh  had  in  later  times  the  reputation  of  being  a  great 
sage.  A  papyrus,  written  about  one  thousand  years  after 
his  time,  said  to  be  a  series  of  precepts  addressed  to  his 
son,  Usertesen  I,  tells  the  story  of  his  accession  to  the 
throne,  and  relates  some  other  events  of  his  reign.  This 
interesting  papyrus,  which  is  said  to  have  been  composed 
by  the  king  himself,  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 
In  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  reign  Amenemhat,  in  all 
probability  with  the  purpose  of  avoiding  a  civil  war  over 
the  succession,  appointed  his  son  Usertesen  co-regent. 
This  practice  was  imitated  by  most  of  his  successors. 
The  pharaoh  died  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  reign,  and 
the  events  related  and  allusions  made  in  the  memoirs  of 
a  prince  of  this  time  force  on  us  the  suspicion  that  he  was 
murdered. 

Cheper-ka-Ra  Usertesen  (2099-2065  B.C.). 
— When  Usertesen  I  ascended  the  throne,  about  2099 
B.  G.j  he  succeeded  to  a  mighty  empire  firmly  united  in  its 
various  parts  and  presenting  a  bold  front  to  its  hostile 
neighbors.  Already  as  co-regent  Usertesen  had  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  field,  and  his  warlike  ardor  did  not 
abate  when  he  sat  on  the  throne  as  sole  ruler.  He  was 
compelled  to  take  the  field  against  the  Libyan  Bedouins, 
whom  he  subdued.  In  the  forty-third  year  of  his  reign  he 
invaded  Nubia,  and  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Second  Cat- 
aract. Here  he  set  up  a  stele,  on  which  he  enumerates 
the  names  of  eleven  conquered  Nubian  tribes.  Of  these 
names,  nine  are  preserved:  1.  Huu ;  2.  Kas ;  3.  (de- 
stroyed); 4.  Shemik ;  5.  Chasaa ;  6.  Shadt ;  J.Asher- 
kin  ;  8.  Ouaoua  ;  9.  Chemer  ;  10.  (destroyed)  ;  11.  Am.au. 
It  is  very  unfortunate  that  we  have  no  detailed  accounts  of 
these  wars ;  we  know  only  where  the  king  warred,  and 
read  the  names  of  the  conquered  nations,  but  here  our 
knowledge  ends.  This  pharaoh  opened  the  copper  and 
malachite  mines  of  the  Set  Mefkat — "  Malachite  Land,"- 
as  the  Egyptians  called  the  Sinai  peninsula.  He  also 
quarried  stone  in  the  Wadi  Hammamat.  The  most  im- 
portant of  the  buildings  erected  by  this  pharaoh  were,  of 
course,  at  Thebes.  He  built  the  priests'  quarters  at  Kar- 
nak,  which  were  restored  in  the  reign  of  Ramses  IX,  and 
had  his  statue  placed  in  the  temple-yard.  A  very  fine 
colossal  statue  of  this  king  which  was  found  at  Tanis  is 


THE  MIDDLE  EMPIRE,  53 

now  in  the  Museum  of  Berlin.  In  the  third  year  of  his  reign, 
according  to  the  text  written  on  a  roll  of  leather  preserved 
in  the  same  museum,  the  pharaoh  began  work  on  the 
temple  of  Rd  at  Heliopolis.  As  his  father  was  then  still 
living,  and  he  was  merely  co-regent,  Amenemhat  I  ap- 
pears as  the  directing  spirit,  while  Usertesen  seems  to 
have  exercised  executive  functions.  The  temple  was  called 
Het-chd-Sehotepab-Rd  —  i.  e.,  "  The  shining  temple  of 
AmenemhaLL" — while  a  portion  of  it  was  named  after 
Usertesen.  The  only  trace  left  of  this  temple  are  two 
obelisks  erected  by  Usertesen,  one  of  which  is  still  stand- 
ing, while  the  other  is  fallen  and  in  fragments.  A  pecul- 
iarly shaped  obelisk,  rounded  at  the  apex  and  showing 
undoubted  traces  of  the  fact  that  it  was  once  capped  with 
metal,  was  found,  broken  in  two,  at  Begfg,  in  the  Fayoum. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Fellahln  of  the  region  look 
upon  it  as  sacred,  it  could  not  be  removed.  The  king  also 
built  in  Abydos.  In  his  forty-second  year  Usertesen  ap- 
pointed his  son  Amenemhat  co-regent.  Two  years  after 
he  died,  having  ruled  in  all  forty-four  years,  of  which  he 
shared  ten  with  his  father  and  two  with  his  son,  and  ruled 
thirty-two  alone. 

Nub-ka-Ra  Amenemhat  (2064-2031  B.C.) 
ascended  the  throne  as  sole  king  about  2064  B.  C.  He 
was  a  ruler  of  no  special  prominence,  but  he  was  well  able 
to  keep  together  the  great  kingdom  left  him  by  his  father. 
Irji  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  reign  this  king  sent  an 
expedition  under  command  of  Ckent-chd-ouer  to  Arabia 
and  the  Somali  coast  {Pewenf).  The  expedition  was  a 
success.  This  is  the  first  time  since  the  reign  of  Seanch- 
ka-Ra  that  we  hear  of  a  government  expedition  sent  to 
this  country.  Like  his  father,  he  worked  the  Sinai  copper- 
mines,  and  built  at  Sarbut  el  Chadem  a  temple  to  Hathor, 
who  was  the  tutelar  deity  of  this  region.  He  also  operated 
the  quarries  of  the  Wadi  Hammamat.  In  the  thirty-sec- 
ond year  of  his  reign  he  appointed  his  son  Usertesen  co- 
regent,  and  died  three  years  later,  having  ruled  in  all  thirty- 
five  years — two  years  as  co-regent  of  his  father,  thirty  years 
alone,  and  three  years  together  with  his  son. 

Cha-cheper-Ra,  Usertesen  (2030-2014  B.  a). — 
Of  Usertesen  Jl,  who  came  to  the  throne  about  2030  B.  C, 
we  knOw  but  little.  Almost  all  our  knowledge  of  his 
reign  is  confined  to  what  the  great  inscriptions  in  the 


54  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

tombs  at  Benihassan  and  Bersheh  tell  us  of  the  social 
conditions  of  the  time.  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign  he 
sent  an  expedition  to  the  Wadi  Gasus,  a  branch  of  the 
Wadi  Hammamat,  which  runs  in  a  slanting  (northeast) 
direction  to  the  Red  Sea.  This  expedition  most  probably 
went  to  Pewent.  In  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign  he  sent  an 
expedition  under  Mentuhotep  to  Assuan,  and  it  would 
seem  from  his  inscription  that  the  tribes  dwelling  about 
the  quarries  had  given  trouble  and  had  been  subdued. 
This  pharaoh  built  at  Memphis  and  Tanis,  at  which  latter 
place  a  statue  of  his  wife  Nefert  was  found. 

In  the  times  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  it  was  a  customary 
thing  for  Syrian  Bedouins  to  cross  the  Egyptian  border 
and  seek  permission  to  pasture  their  herds  on  Egyptian 
soil.  A  migration  of  this  character  which  took  place  in 
the  sixth  year  of  this  reign  is  represented  on  a  celebrated 
painting  found  in  the  tomb  of  Chnernhotep,  the  nomarchos 
of  the  sixteenth  Upper  Egyptian  nome.  This  painting 
represents  the  arrival  of  thirty-seven  Asiatics  who  came 
before  that  noble,  bearing  costly  presents,  among  which 
was  a  specially  valuable  eye-salve,  seeking  his  protection 
and  asking  permission  to  settle  on  his  territory.  The 
painting  has  become  widely  known  through  the  attempted 
identification  of  the  people  here  depicted  with  Abraham 
and  his  party.  This  attempt,  however,  is  futile.  The 
Bible  relates  that  Abraham  came  to  Egypt  on  a  similar 
errand,  and  that  his  stay  in  this  country  was  advantageous 
to  him.  The  account  of  the  Bible  shows  a  good  knowledge 
of  the  conditions  under  which  such  migrations  were  made, 
and  is  certainly  based  on  old  recollections  of  the  race, 
some  parts  of  which  no  doubt  did  dwell  in  Egypt  under 
these  conditions  while  they  were  yet  in  the  nomadic  state. 

Manetho  calls  this  king  Sesostris,  and  attributes  to  him 
the  conquest  of  the  world  ;  but  as  yet  no  monuments  have 
been  discovered  that  bear  out  this  statement.  As  Sesos- 
tris is  the  usual  designation  of  Ramses  II  with  the  Classi- 
cal writers,  it  is,  however,  just  possible  that  the  copyists 
of  Manetho  got  things  slightly  mixed.  The  king  died 
after  a  reign  of  nineteen  years,  three  of  which  he  shared 
with  his  father. 

Cha-ka-Ra,  Usertesen  (201 3-1 987  B.  a),  who 
succeeded  his  father  about  2013  B.  C,  is  one  of  the  great- 
est figures  of  Egyptian  history.     He  it  was  that  finally 


THE  MIDDLE  EMPIRE.  55 

subdued  Aethiopia.  The  victories  of  Usertesen  I  had 
placed  the  southern  boundary  of  the  realm  at  the  Sec- 
ond Cataract.  Tjsgrtesp.p  TTI  immediately  proceeded  to 
strengthen  this  frontier  and  make  it  the  basis  of  his  oper- 
ations. Having  defeated  the  hostile  tribes  of  the  region, 
he  built  two  forts  on  opposite  sides  of  the  Nile,  one  at 
Semneh  and  one  at  Kumneh,  on  this  cataract,  and  in  the 
eighth  year  of  his  reign  erected  a  boundary-stone  warning 
all  negroes  from  coming  down  the  river  on  their  boats 
unless  they  were  bringing  cattle  or  merchandise  to  mar- 
ket at  Heh  (Semneh)  or  Aqen  (Kumneh).  In  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  reign  the  pharaoh  set  out  on  his  second  cam- 
paign against  the  Nubians.  He  completely  devastated 
the  country,  destroyed  the  crops,  drove  off  the  cattle,  and 
took  numerous  prisoners.  Despite  this  great  victory,  the 
Nubians  were  not  yet  completely  subdued.  In  the  nine- 
teenth year  of  his  reign  the  king  was  again  compelled  to 
take  the  field  against  them,  and  again  he  completely  de- 
feated them,  taking  large  numbers  of  prisoners  and  de- 
vastating the  country.  After  this  the  tribes  seem  to  have 
submitted  and  remained  tranquil,  for  during  the  rest  of 
this  epoch  we  hear  of  no  new  outbreaks. — The  king  was 
an  active  builder.  We  have  already  mentioned  two  of  his 
great  works.  He  also  built  in  Thebes,  in  Heracleopolis 
magna,  in  Abydos,  in  Tanis,  and  in  Amada.  He  was, 
moreover,  the  first  founder  of  the  temples  on  the  Island  of 
Elephantine,  where  he  erected  a  temple  to  Satet  and  Ann- 
ket,  two  of  the  local  deities  of  the  region.  Near  the  island 
he  founded  a  new  city,  which  he  called  Heru-chd-ka-Rd. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  how  posterity  honored  this  great 
monarch.  Almost  six  hundred  years  after  the  king's 
death,  Thutmosis  III  erected  a  temple  to  him  at  Semneh, 
and  seems  to  have  attempted  to  make  him  a  local  divinity 
of  this  region.  He  also  appears  as  a  god  in  the  temple  of 
Kumneh,  in  that  of  Dosheh,  and  at  other  places  in  Nubia. 
Usertesen  died  after  a  reign  of  twenty-six  years. 

Mat-en-Ra,  Amenemhat  (1986-1942  B.  c.).— 
About  1986  B.  c,  Amenemhat  IILj2ne  of  Egypt's  great- 
est pharaohs,  ascended  the  throne.  ""This  king  was  not  a 
great  warrior  and  conqueror,  but  he  was  the  projector  and 
builder  of  an  important  work  that  was  of  far  greater  value 
to  Egypt  than  would  have  been  the  conquest  of  a  dozen 
or  more  of  the  border  tribes.     His  fame  rests  on  the  im- 


56  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

mense  reservoir  he  built  in  the  western  part  of  the  twenty- 
first  Upper  Egyptian  nome.  This  reservoir,  according  to 
all  appearances,  was  built  and  not  dug.  A  vast  dam  was 
erected  inclosing  a  large  area  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
The  exact  extent  of  the  reservoir  we  have  no  means  of 
ascertaining,  nor  do  we  know  exactly  what  part  of  the  dis- 
trict known  to-day  as  the  Fayoum  was  inclosed  in  its 
dams,  some  remains  of  which  have  been  discovered.  The 
object  of  this  vast  reservoir  was  to  regulate  the  inunda- 
tion of  the  Nile.  It  received  and  stored  up  for  future  use 
vast  quantities  of  water.  Just  how  this  was  accomplished 
or  where  the  flood-gates  were,  or  what  canals  led  to  and 
from  the  reservoir  we  do  not  know.  The  great  work  is 
now  in  ruins,  and  we  have  no  description  of  it  as  it  was  in 
the  days  of  its  builder.  As  stated  on  a  previous  page,  this 
work  gave  to  the  district  in  which  it  was  erected  the  name 
of  Ta-ske,  "  Lake-land  " — the  modern  name  of  the  region, 
Fayoum,  being  derived  through  the  Coptic  pha  ydm,  from 
the  ancient  word  pa-yom,  u  the  sea."  In  this  reservoir 
Amenemhat  erected  two  pyramids.  At  Illahun,  on  the 
northern  outlet  of  the  reservoir,  a  city  in  all  probability 
founded  by  the  pharaoh,  he  built  a  pyramid  in  which  he 
was  buried.  On  the  northeastern  bank  he  erected  the 
great  building  known  as  the  Labyrinth,  about  which  the 
Greeks  tell  so  many  stories,  and  which  was  originally  a 
temple,  dedicated  either  entire  or  in  part  to  the  crocodile- 
headed  god  Sebak,  the  head  of  the  local  pantheon  of  this 
region.  The  city  of  Crocodilopolis,  the  Egyptian  name  of 
which  seems  to  have  been  She&et,  lying  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  reservoir,  was  the  capital  of  Ta-she,  and  was  no 
doubt  also  founded  by  this  ruler.  The  Greek  name  of  the, 
work,  Lake  Mceris,  was  most  probably  derived  from  the 
Egyptian  word  meri>  "  lake."  Despite  the  fact  that  the 
building  of  the  reservoir  and  the  cities  lying  about  it  must 
have  taken  up  a  great  part  of  his  time,  Amenemhat  still 
was  able  to  erect  buildings  elsewhere.  He  certainly  did 
not  forget  Thebes,  and  we  hear  that  he  built  in  Abydos  and 
Memphis.  Several  expeditions,  one  of  which  the  king  led 
in  person,  were  sent  to  the  diorite  quarries  of  the  Wadi 
Hammamat,  He  also  continued  the  working  of  the  cop- 
per and  malachite  mines  of  the  Sinai,  and  had  a  grotto  cut 
into  the  rock  at  Sarbut-el-Chadem.  Of  interest  are  the 
notes  regarding  the  rise  of  the  Nile,  found  on  the  rocks  at 


THE  MIDDLE  EMPIRE,  57 

Semneh  and  Kumneh,  which  prove  that  the  Nile  rose 
twenty-seven  feet  three  inches  higher  at  these  places,  dur- 
ing this  time,  than  it  rises  to-day.  Toward  the  close  of 
his  reign  of  forty-four  years  he  appointed  his  son,  Ame- 
nemhat,  co-regent. 

Ra-ma-cheru,  Amenemhat  (1941-1932  B.C.). 
— This  pharaoh,  the  fourth  of  his  name,  who  ascended 
the  throne  about  1941  B.  C,  was  apparently  a  weak  king. 
All  we  know  of  him  is  that  he  worked  the  copper-mines 
of  the  Sinai  and  had,  like  all  kings  of  his  line,  the  rise  of 
the  Nile  carefully  recorded  at  Semneh  and  Kumneh.  He 
married  his  sister,  Sebak-nefru-Rd,  whom  he  appointed 
co-regent.  Together  they  ruled  about  nine  years.  The 
close  of  the  dynasty  is  shrouded  in  darkness. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  EGYPTIAN  KINGDOM  AND   THE 
HYKSOS    DOMINATION — ABOUT    I930-153O   B.  C. 

THIS  period  is  one  of  the  darkest  in  the  history  of 
Egypt.  Very  few  monuments  have  come  down  to  us 
from  this  epoch,  and  almost  all  we  know  of  the  entire  four 
hundred  years  or  more  is  the  names  of  the  kings  and  in 
some  cases  the  length  of  the  various  reigns.  Of  some  of 
these  rulers  we  know  from  the  monuments  found  how 
far  their  power  extended,  but  here  our  knowledge  ends. 
We  know,  further,  that  in  this  period  the  Egyptian  kings 
were  dethroned  by  foreign  invaders  coming  from  Asia  and 
known  to  us  as  the  Hyksos,  and  that  these  foreigners  held 
Egypt  in  subjugation  for  many  years.  Who  they  were, 
and  how  long  they  remained  in  the  country,  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing.  The  only  review  of  this  period  that 
any  ancient  writer  has  given  us  is  that  copied  from  Ma- 
netho : 

XIII  Dynasty :  from  Thebes,  60  kings  in  453  years. 

XIV  Dynasty  :  from  Chois  (in  the  Delta),  j6  kings  in 
484  years. 

XV  Dynasty  :  Hyksos,  6  kings  in  260  years. 

XVI  Dynasty :  Hyksos,  ?  kings  in  251  years. 

XVII  Dynasty  :  from  Thebes,  ?  kings  in  ?  years. 

The  number  of  hypotheses  concerning  this  epoch  is 
legion,  but  not  one  is  supported  by  facts  and  monuments. 
The  times  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  dynasties  seem 
to  have  been  troublesome.  The  kings  of  the  former  ruled, 
according  to  Manetho,  only  about  seven  and  a  half  years 
on  an  average,  those  of  the  latter  only  about  six  years, 
while  the  members  of  the  first  Hyksos  dynasty  ruled  on 
an  average  forty-three  and  one  third  years.  The  entire 
period  is  evidently  set  down  as  too  long  by  Manetho 's 
copyists,  who  give  over  one  hundred  and  forty-two  kings  in 


THE    THIRTEENTH  DYNASTY.  59 

over  fourteen  hundred  and  forty-eight  years.  The  monu- 
ments do  not  permit  us  to  assume  so  great  a  gap  in  the 
history  as  five  hundred  and  eleven  years  between  the  close 
of  the  fourteenth  dynasty  and  the  beginning  of  the  New 
Empire  (about  1530  B.  a).  There  have  come  down  to  us 
the  genealogies  of  nobles  who  lived  early  in  the  eighteenth 
dynasty  that  after  a  few  generations  give  names  which 
certainly  belonged  to  contemporaries  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  dynasties.  It  is  very  probable,  if  not  certain, 
that  the  last  kings  of  the  fourteenth  dynasty  were  contem- 
porary with  the  earliest  Hyksos  kings,  and  we  know  that 
all  of  the  kings  of  the  seventeenth  dynasty  were  contem- 
poraries of  the  last  Hyksos  kings.  If  we  must  state  the 
duration  of  this  period  in  years,  we  would  say  that  it  can 
not  have  exceeded  four  hundred  years,  of  which  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  would  give  about  the  duration  of 
Dynasties  XIII  and  XIV  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
the  duration  of  the  Hyksos  domination. 

J  1.   The  Thirteenth  Dynasty. 

The  new  dynasty,  which  was  founded  by  King  Ra- 
chu-taui,  seems  to  have  been  closely  connected  with  the 
twelfth.  Already,  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  dynasty, 
we  find  the  crocodile  god  of  the  Fayoum,  Sebak,  in  the 
ascendency,  owing  to  the  extensive  works  erected  by  the 
last  kings  of  that  dynasty  in  the  Fayoum.  Names  con- 
taining that  of  Sebak  as  a  component  part  begin  to  appear 
about  the  same  time  ;  witness  that  of  Queen  Sebak-nofru- 
Rd.  This  custom  has  become  prevalent  in  the  new  dy- 
nasty. It  is  further  significant  that  two  kings  of  this  line 
adopted  the  throne-name  of  Amenemhat  I,  Sehotep-ab- 
Rd.  A  long  list  of  kings  of  this  house  has  been  pre- 
served, but  of  scarce  a  single  one  do  we  know  more  than 
the  name.  As  above  remarked,  the  times  seem  to  have 
been  troublesome  and  rife  with  insurrections  and  usurpa- 
tions. Of  Sednch-ab-Rd,  Ame?io,  wre  know  that  he  built 
at  Karnak,  two  altars  dedicated  by  him  to  Amon-Rd  hav- 
ing been  found  here. 

§  2.    The  Fx)urtee)ith  Dynasty. 

Ransenib,  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  successor  of  Rd- 
chu-taui,  the  founder  of  Dynasty  XIII,  founded  a  new  dy- 


60  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

nasty.  The  greater  part  of  his  successors  have  left  us 
monuments  ;  and  the  fact  that  these  monuments  have  been 
found  in  all  parts  of  Egypt  from  Tanis  to  Semneh,  and 
even  far  to  the  south  of  this  place,  proves  that  these 
pharaohs  had  control  of  the  entire  country,  though  at 
times  they  must  have  found  it  quite  a  difficult  task  to  hold 
their  own.  Accordingly,  we  must  not  picture  them  to 
ourselves  as  exceedingly  mighty  monarchs.  They  were 
nothing  of  the  kind ;  they  merely  succeeded  in  holding 
together  the  mighty  kingdom  of  the  twelfth  dynasty. 
They  have  left  us  only  short  inscriptions  and  statues  that 
are,  it  is  true,  sometimes  of  colossal  proportions  and  of 
superior  workmanship  ;  but  that  could  easily  have  been 
executed  in  a  short  period.  Manetho  states  that  this  dy- 
nasty came  originally  from  the  town  of  Choi's  in  the  Delta, 
but  where  he  got  this  information  is  a  mystery  to  us. 
Sechem-chu-taui-  Rd,  Sebakhotep  III,  has  left  us  several 
records  of  the  rise  of  the  Nile  at  Semneh  and  Kumneh. 
The  sixth  king  of  this  line,  Se-mench-ka-Rd  Mermenfitu, 
is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  a  usurper;  but  this 
supposition  is  based  merely  on  the  fact  that  his  name, 
Mermenfitu,  means  "  general  "  and  is  very  doubtful.  Of 
him  there  are  extant  two  colossal  statues  that  once  adorned 
the  temple  of  Ptah  at  Tanis.  Both  of  these  were  later  on 
usurped  by  the  Hyksos  king  Apepi,  and  still  later  Ramses 
II  put  his  cartouches  on  one  of  them.  At  the  same  place 
a  third  statue  of  this  ruler  was  found.  Sechem-uatj-taui- 
Rd,  Sebakhotep  IV,  was  the  son  of  a  private  citizen 
named  Mentuhotep  and  the  Princess  Fu-henen-abu,  the 
daughter  of  Queen  Nenna.  It  would  thus  seem  that 
Sebakhotep  IV  based  his  claim  to  the  crown  on  his 
mother.  Chdseskesh-Rd  NeferhStep,  the  son  of  a  private 
citizen  named  Hd-dnchef  and  his  wife  Kemdt,  was  one  of 
the  mightiest  of  these  kings,  retaining  the  crown  eleven 
years.  The  temple  of  Abydos  was  specially  favored  by 
this  ruler.  A  long  inscription  found  at  this  place  relates 
the  following  story :  "  One  day  King  Neferhotep  was 
seized  with  a  desire  to  see  the  books  of  the  god  A  turn,  a 
solar  deity.  Receiving  permission,  he  entered  the  temple 
library  and  studied  them.  Hereupon  he  resolved  to  re- 
store the  entire  temple."  A  good  resolution,  this,  and 
one  he  carried  out.  One  of  the  most  interesting  monu- 
ments of  his  reign  is  an  inscription  on  the  rocks  of  Ass- 


THE  FOURTEENTH  DYNASTY.  61 

uan,  representing  him  and  his  entire  family,  consisting  of 
his  parents,  Prince  Sa-Hathor,  Prince  Sebakhotep,  and  a 
relative  named  Nebhotep.  A  sandstone  block  found  at 
Karnak  which,  by  the  by,  proves  that  he  built  here,  is  of 
great  interest,  as  it  bears  on  the  one  side  the  name  of 
Neferhotep  and  on  the  other  that  of  Sebakhotep,  his  son 
and  second  successor.  It  would  seem  from  this  that  Se- 
bakhotep had  been  appointed  co-regent  by  his  father  in 
order  that  his  succession  might  be  assured.  A  small 
granite  statue  of  the  king  was  found  at  Tanis.  After  the 
short  reign  of  Sa-Hathor,  who  seems  to  have  died  soon 
after  his  accession,  Chd-nefer-Rd,  Sebakhotep  V,  ascended 
the  throne.  He  was  a  powerful  monarch,  who  ruled  over 
the  entire  land.  A  colossal  statue  of  rose-colored  granite 
representing  this  king,  on  which  Ramses  II  afterward  cut 
his  cartouches,  was  found  at  Tanis.  A  second  statue  was 
found  at  Bubastis,  and  a  third  on  the  island  of  Argo,  far 
south  of  the  Second  Cataract.  His  name  is  frequently 
found  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Karnak.  According 
to  the  classical  authors,  who  call  him  Chanephres,  he 
died  of  elephantiasis.  Chd-dnch-Rd,  Sebakhotep  VI,  is 
mentioned  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Karnak  and  on 
several  smaller  monuments.  Chd-hotep-Rd,  Sebakhotep 
VII,  ruled,  according  to  the  Turin  Papyrus,  four  years, 
eight  months,  and  twenty-nine  days.  Ouah-ab-Rd,  Ad- 
ab,  reigned  ten  years,  eight  months,  and  eighteen  days ; 
and  Mer-nefer-Rd,  Ai,  reigned  thirteen  years,  eight 
months,  and  eighteen  days — as  far  as  we  know,  longer 
than  any  other  king  of  this  dynasty.  Mer-ka-Rd,  Sebak- 
hotep VIII,  has  left  us  a  statue.  Several  important  tombs 
at  Siut  date  from  this  time.  Of  the  remaining  kings  of 
the  dynasty  we  know  nothing.  Little  by  little  we  lose 
grasp  of  the  historical  connection,  and  all  that  is  left  us  is 
a  mere  list  of  names,  with  here  and  there  the  statement 
that  a  certain  king  ruled  so  and  so  many  years.  The 
tombs  of  Siut  that  date  from  this  time  all  show  that  the 
nobles  here  buried  were  rich  and  powerful.  They  have 
the  same  value  for  this  period  as  those  of  Benihassan  have 
for  the  twelfth  dynasty,  but  are  not  nearly  so  well  pre- 
served, and  contain  but  few  historical  allusions. 


62  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 


§  3.   The  Hyksos  Domination,  about  jySo-ijjo  B.  C. 

The  Fifteenth  Dynasty. — The  fourteenth  dy- 
nasty succumbed  to  an  invasion  of  Asiatic  Bedouins,  who 
gradually  succeeded  in  driving  the  Egyptian  kings  south. 
It  is  highly  probable,  however,  that  the  pharaohs  yielded 
only  after  along  and  bitter  struggle.  The  only  account 
we  have  of  the  Hyksos  invasion  is  that  copied  from  Ma- 
netho's  book  by  Josephus.  This  account  is  as  follows  : 
"  At  the  time  when  King  Timaos  ruled  in  Egypt,  God  for 
unknown  reasons  became  incensed  at  the  Egyptians.  A 
people  coming  from  the  east  suddenly  attacked  the  land 
and  easily  conquered  it.  The  ruling  class  were  taken 
prisoners,  the  cities  were  burned  down,  and  the  temples 
devastated.  All  the  inhabitants  were  treated  in  the  most 
hostile  and  barbarous  manner ;  some  were  slain,  and  the 
wives  and  children  of  others  were  sold  into  slavery.  At 
last  these  barbarians  elected  one  of  their  own  number, 
named  Salatis,  king.  He  made  Memphis  his  capital,  lev- 
ied taxes  in  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  and  garrisoned  a 
number  of  towns.  The  strongest  garrisons  were  laid  in 
the  eastern  forts,  as  he  feared  the  Assyrians,  who  were  at 
that  time  very  powerful,  might  attack  Egypt.  Finding  in 
the  Saitic  (mistake  for  Sethroitic)  nome  a  city  favorably 
located,  east  of  the  Bubastic  branch  of  the  Nile,  which, 
owing  to  an  old  legend,  was  called  Avaris,  he  built  a  great 
wall  around  it  and  put  in  a  garrison  of  240,000  men.  To 
this  city  he  came  in  the  summer,  partly  to  direct  the  distri- 
bution of  food  and  pay,  and  partly  to  frighten  the  enemy 
by  constantly  drilling  his  men.  After  a  reign  of  nineteen 
years  he  died,  and  the  following  were  his  successors  : 
Benon,  who  ruled  forty-four  years  ;  Apachnas,  who  ruled 
thirty-six  years  and  seven  months  (according  to  Africanus, 
sixty-one  years) ;  Aphobis,  also  called  Apophis,  sixty-one 
years  ;  Annas,  fifty  years  and  one  month  ;  and  Asseth,  forty- 
nine  years  and  two  months.  These  six  kings  were  the 
first  rulers  of  the  people  that  lived  in  constant  strife  with 
the  Egyptians  and  sought  to  exterminate  them.  The 
whole  people  had  the  name  of  Hyksos — i.  e.,  '  shepherd- 
kings,'  for  hyk  signifies  in  the  old  language  '  king '  and 
sos  '  shepherd,'  and  still  has  this  meaning  in  the  Demotic. 
Some  say  they  were  Arabs.  In  another  copy  of  Manetho, 
however,  there  is  the  note  that  the  syllable  hyk  does  not 


THE  HYKSOS  DOMINATION,  63 

signify  *  king,'  but  that  the  entire  word  signifies  '  prison- 
ers of  war.'  This  latter  explanation  seems  to  me,"  adds 
Josephus,  "  the  more  plausible  and  better  in  accord  with 
ancient  history." 

The  last  note  given  by  Josephus  was  certainly  not  found 
in  the  original  work  of  Manetho,  but  was  added  by  some 
later  copyist,  provided  it  be  not  an  invention  of  Josephus 
himself.  This  writer's  object,  in  quoting  this  passage  from 
Manetho  in  his  "  History  of  the  Jews,"  was  to  prove  that 
the  Hyksos  and  the  Jews  were  one  and  the  same  people, 
and  thus  to  demonstrate  the  great  antiquity  and  nobility 
of  the  Jewish  race.  Now,  there  wras  one  thing  that  both- 
ered him.  The  Hyksos  entered  the  land  as  conquerors, 
while  the  Jews,  according  to  the  Old  Testament,  entered 
it  peacefully.  Josephus,  therefore,  bethought  himself  of 
this  not  over-ingenious  compromise. 

On  the  other  hand,  Manetho's  etymology  is  correct. 
Heq  does  mean  prince,  and  hyk  may  well  be  corrupted  from 
this  word  ;  and  sos  certainly  is  a  corruption  of  shasu  or 
shas,  which  was  the  name  commonly  applied  in  this  period 
to  the  nomads  on  the  Asiatic  frontier.  I  must  in  this 
connection  remind  the  reader  of  the  fact  that  the  Greeks 
had  no  q  and  no  sh,  and  were  compelled  to  render  the 
former  as  k  and  the  latter  as  s.  The  only  difficulty  lay  in 
the  fact  that  hyk  represented  the  singular  heq,  while  the 
plural  heqn  would  have  been  the  proper  form  ;  but  it  has 
been  demonstrated  that  the  form  Hyksos  is  a  mistake  for 
Hykussos.  While  Manetho  is  right  here,  he  has  made 
some  terrible  slips  in  other  parts  of  his  narrative.  His 
most  glaring  mistake  is,  that  he  speaks  of  a  powerful  As- 
syrian empire  in  about  1780  B.  c,  at  a  time  when  Assur 
was  a  small  and  unimportant  town  that  could  scarcely 
hold  its  own  against  its  near  neighbors.  Even  three  hun- 
dred years  later,  Assyria  was  so  weak  that  when  Thutmo- 
sis  III  had  defeated  the  Syrian  kings,  it  sent  him  tribute. 
Another  bad  slip  is  the  story  about  Avaris.  Assuredly 
the  Hyksos  did  not  conquer  Egypt  in  order  to  be  able  to 
garrison  a  town  on  the  borders  of  the  desert !  Only  the 
bare  facts  of  Manetho's  narrative  are  available  for  histori- 
cal purposes,  and  these  are  that  a  vast  horde  of  Asiatic 
Bedouins  (this  is  the  best  rendering  of  Shasu)  invaded 
Egypt,  and  after  a  long  struggle  succeeded  in  conquering 
the  country.     What  race  these  Bedouins  belonged  to  we 


64  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

can  not  say,  nor  have  we  any  idea  of  their  appearance.  The 
monuments  found  at  Tanis  and  formerly  attributed  to 
them  have  long  since  been  proved  to  belong  to  another 
epoch  of  Egyptian  history. 

Their  religion  was  of  course  different  from  that  of  the 
Egyptians.  An  Egyptian  text  treating  of  the  expulsion  of 
the  Hyksos  states  that  they  worshiped  the  god  Sutech. 
This  is  the  name  applied  by  the  Egyptians  to  the  god  of 
the  foreigners,  and  is  often  a  translation  of  the  Semitic 
Bacal.  Thus  the  Ba'alim  of  the  various  Cheta  towns  are 
designated  as  Sutechu  (plural  of  Sutech).  As  god  of  the 
foreign  enemies  of  Egypt,  Sutech  is  identified  with  Set, 
the  enemy  of  Horus  and  principle  of  evil ;  and  it  is  but 
natural  that  this  god  should  be  looked  upon  as  the  tutelar 
deity  of  the  hostile  foreigners.  In  later  times,  when  the 
power  of  the  New  Empire  declined,  Sutech,  as  the  power- 
ful god  of  the  mighty  enemies,  was  considered  a  very  po- 
tent divinity,  and  found  many  worshipers  in  Egypt.  The 
names  of  most  of  the  Hyksos  kings  are  compounds  of  the 
name  of  the  god  Set,  but  some  are  compounds  of  the 
name  Rd,  showing  that  the  Hyksos  were  to  some  extent 
influenced  by  Egyptian  religious  thought. 

The  Sixteenth  Dynasty. — The  Hyksos  did  not 
always  remain  uncultured  barbarians,  but  with  time  began 
to  adopt  the  civilization  of  Egypt.  Egyptian  officials  were 
put  in  charge  of  the  various  departments  ;  Egyptian  liter- 
ature, science,  and  art  were  encouraged.  Under  King 
Ad-oueser-Rd,  Apepi  I,  was  compiled  a  mathematical 
treatise,  of  which  a  copy,  written  in  the  twenty-third  year 
of  his  reign,  has  come  down  to  us.  Ad-qenen-Rd,  Apepi 
II,  is  known  from  several  monuments.  The  reign,  or 
rather  death,  of  King  Ad-pehti-Set,  Nubti,  is  used  as  an 
era  in  an  inscription  of  the  time  of  Ramses  II,  which  is 
dated  four  hundred  years  after  King  Nubtz.  This  would 
place  Nubti  in  the  seventeenth  century,  somewhere  be- 
tween 1700  and  1630  B.  c,  as  the  inscription  unfortunately 
does  not  give  the  year  of  Ramses' s  reign.  Of  the  other 
Hyksos  kings,  we  know  the  names  only. 


THE  HYKSOS  DOMINATION.  65 

§  4.   The  Seventeenth  Dynasty. — Beginning  of  the 
Struggle  for  Independence, 

Toward  the  close  of  the  Hyksos  domination  there 
ruled  in  Thebes  a  line  of  kings  who  were,  in  all  probability, 
descended  from  the  last  kings  of  the  fourteenth  or,  per- 
haps,.of  the  thirteenth  dynasty.  They  are  the  rulers  of 
the  seventeenth  dynasty  who  began  the  combat  with  the 
Hyksos.  A  legend  preserved  on  a  papyrus  belonging  to 
the  British  Museum  (Sallier  I)  relates  the  story  of  the  out- 
break. King  Apepi,  the  Hyksos  ruler,  who  was  an  ardent 
worshiper  of  Sutech,  sent  messengers  to  the  Egyptian 
king  of  Thebes,  Rd-seqenen  Ta-da,  bearing  certain  propo- 
sitions regarding  religious  matters  which  Rd-seqenen  re- 
jected. There  had  also  arisen  misunderstandings  regard- 
ing a  well  lying  on  or  near  the  border,  in  regard  to  which 
no  agreement  could  be  reached.  This  brought  on  the 
war.  Rd-seqenen  is  called  throughout  the  story  "  Prince 
of  the  Southern  City  " — i.  e.,  Thebes  ;  and  it  would  seem 
from  this  that  the  Hyksos  had  either  never  reached  that 
city,  or  the  country  had  been  reconquered  so  far  north  as 
Thebes.  At  all  events,  the  Theban  kings  were  independ- 
ent rulers,  and  resented  the  Hyksos  king's  attempt  to 
assert  any  claim  of  sovereignty  over  them ;  and  they 
boldly  took  up  the  cause  of  Egyptian  liberty.  Long  years 
the  war  lasted,  and  the  Hyksos  were  slowly  driven  north. 
The  kings  who  distinguished  themselves  in  this  war  were 
Rd-seqenen  Ta-da  -  /,  Ta-da  II,  the  Great,  Ta-da  III, 
the  Brave,  and  Karnes,  the  husband  of  Queen  Aahhotep 
and  father  of  Aahmes  I.  the  final  liberator  of  Egypt.  In 
1 88 1  the  mummy  of  King  Ra-seqenen  was  found  in  a 
shaft  at  D£r-el-bahari.  An  ugly  gash  on  the  head  of  the 
mummy  proves  that  the  king  died  a  violent  death.  In  all 
probability  he  was  killed  in  his  struggle  for  the  liberty  of 
his  country. 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  THE  EXPULSION  OF  THE  HYKSOS  TO  THE  CLOSE 
OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  DYNASTY— ABOUT  1530-1340 
B.  C— BEGINNING   OF  THE  NEW   EMPIRE. 

With  this  dynasty  begins  the  period  commonly  known 
as  the  "New  Empire,"  which  embraces  the  eighteenth, 
nineteenth,  and  twentieth  dynasties.  The  dynasty  is 
memorable  in  several  respects.  In  the  first  place,  the 
first  great  campaigns  against  Asia  were  undertaken  in  this 
time,  and  Egypt  was  thus  made  a  conquering  power ;  and, 
in  the  second  place,  a  great  religious  reform,  which  is  of 
special  interest  to  us  moderns,  was  attempted  by  one  of 
the  rulers  of  this  line. 

§  1 .  Aahmes  I. 

How  long  the  war  between  the  kings  of  Thebes  and 
the  Hyksos  lasted  we  can  not  tell ;  but  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  it  began  late  in  the  seventeenth  or  early  in  the  six- 
teenth century  B.  c.  An  inscription  on  the  tomb  of 
Aahmes,  one  of  King  Aahmes's  admirals,  gives  us  an  ac- 
count of  the  closing  scenes  of  the  great  struggle.  It 
would  seem  that  the  predecessors  of  Aahmes  had  driven 
the  Hyksos  into  the  Delta,  and  that  they  had  thrown 
themselves  into  the  city  of  Hdtoudr  (Avaris),  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  Delta,  which  they  strongly  fortified. 
After  several  battles  had  been  fought  on  land  and  water 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city,  the  pharaoh  laid  siege  to 
it,  and,  after  a  protracted  resistance,  the  town  finally  fell 
into  his  hands.  Thus,  about  1530  B.  c,  Egypt  was 
finally  cleared  of  the  foreign  invaders  that  had  held  the 
land  in  subjugation  for  centuries.  The  fleeing  Hyksos 
had  gone  to  Asia,  pursued  by  the  pharaoh.  Crossing  the 
boundary,   he  proceeded  against  the  town  of  Sharha,7it 


egypt  iTHES}ASU       *?  r> 


ARAEIC  DESERT 


MAP  ILLUSTRATING 

j  Campaigns  of  Aahmes  I. 

THUTMOSIS  I. 
AND 

THUTMOSIS  III.  IN  ASIA, 

SCALE  OF  MILES 


50 


100 


-30 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE.  67 

which  is  mentioned,  Joshua,  xix,  6,  as  belonging  to  the  ter- 
ritory allotted  to  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  and  captured  it  in 
the  fifth  year  of  his  reign.  He  then  invaded  Phoenicia 
and  gained  several  victories.  These  successes  secured  the 
Egyptian  frontier  from  inroads  of  the  Asiatics  for  a  num- 
ber of  years. 

This  was  not,  however,  the  only  result  of  this  success- 
ful war.  Aahmes's  Asiatic  campaign  had  shown  the 
Egyptians  the  way  into  Asia,  and  many  of  his  successors 
gained  their  laurels  in  this  country.  The  wars  had  also 
trained  generals  and  armies,  and  Aahmes's  successors  saw 
to  it  that  neither  deteriorated.  A  new  spirit  had  come 
over  the  once  peaceful  people,  and  army  after  army  set 
out  on  warlike  expeditions.  Anton  and  Mentu,  the  great 
gods  of  Thebes,  became  war-gods,  in  whose  names  the 
kings  fought  their  wars,  and  into  the  temples  of  Amon 
poured  the  lion's  share  of  the  booty  won  in  war  and  the 
tribute  wrung  from  conquered  nations.  The  entire  char- 
acter of  the  wars,  too,  was  changed  by  the  introduction  of 
the  horse  from  Asia.  The  home  of  the  horse  was  most 
probably  the  Turanian  steppe.  It  was  introduced  into 
Egypt  by  the  Hyksos.  Horses  were  not  used  in  this  time 
as  beasts  of  burden,  but  only  in  war  and  on  the  chase. 
They  were  not  used  for  riding,  but  only  to  draw  the  two- 
wheeled  chariots.  These  chariots  were  imported  into 
Egypt  from  Syria,  where  chariot-building  was  a  flourishing 
industry.  The  very  word  for  chariot — merkabet — is  of 
Semitic  origin.  This  new  arm  entirely  changed  the  char- 
acter and  dimensions  of  battles.  Moreover,  chariots  and 
horses  were  expensive,  and  the  charioteer  required  special 
training.  These  two  circumstances  favored  the  formation 
of  standing  armies,  and  increased  the  advantage  the 
greater  states  had  over  their  smaller  neighbors.  These 
facts  will  account  for  the  successes  the  Egyptians  won 
over  the  Syrian  states  in  the  ensuing  centuries. 

Aahmes  had  scarcely  finished  his  Asiatic  campaign 
when  he  was  compelled  to  take  the  field  against  the  ChenU 
nefer,  a  mountain  tribe  of  Aethiopia.  In  a  great  battle 
this  tribe  was  utterly  routed,  and  the  king,  glad  of  his  easy 
victory,  was  already  returning  home,  when  the  news  reached 
him  that  the  Aethiopians  had  again  invaded  the  country, 
and  were  even  desecrating  the  temples  of  the  gods.  Rap- 
idly returning,  he  fought  the  battle  of  Tenia- da  in  north- 
7 


68  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

era  Aethiopia,  again  completely  routing  the  enemy.  Not 
dismayed  by  these  repeated  defeats,  the  Aethiopians  a 
third  time  returned  to  the  attack  under  a  leader  named 
Tenta-dn,  but  a  third  time  they  were  defeated,  and  this 
time  with  such  frightful  loss  that  they  did  not  again  vent- 
ure to  attack  their  successful  opponents.  In  these  wars 
the  above-mentioned  admiral,  Aahmes,  who  had  begun 
his  career  as  adjutant  of  this  king,  but  had  rapidly  earned 
promotion,  greatly  distinguished  himself,  and  received  the 
"  gold  for  bravery  "  several  times.  The  "  gold  for  brav- 
ery "  was  a  reward  paid  to  distinguished  soldiers  and  civil- 
ians out  of  the  public  treasury,  and  consisted  of  munificent 
.  gifts  of  gold  in  the  shape  of  disks,  bees,  lions,  etc.  Aah- 
mes received  these  gifts  on  seven  different  occasions. 

There  are  indications  in  the  inscription  of  Aahmes  that 
the  pharaoh  had  to  put  down  a  rebellion  in  the  south. 
This  rebellion  probably  stood  in  some  connection  with 
the  Aethiopian  wars  ;  but  we  know  none  of  the  details. 
In  fact,  we  never  hear  much  of  the  civil  wars  of  Egypt,  of 
which  there  were  no  doubt  many  ;  they  are  always  alluded 
to  in  general  terms,  and  the  details  are  never  entered  into. 

Having  now  secured  Egypt  against  foreign  invasion, 
and  having  quelled  a  probably  dangerous  rebellion,  Aahmes 
was  free  to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  reign  to  internal 
improvements.  He  ruled  over  twenty-two  years.  How 
much  of  this  time  was  taken  up  by  his  wars  we  do  not 
know.  At  all  events,  he  had  abundant  time  to  strengthen 
his  reign,  and  to  make  Thebes,  his  capital,  the  greatest  city 
in  the  land.  It  was  no  easy  task  that  was  set  this  pharaoh. 
Everywhere  the  temples  had  suffered  from  neglect  and, 
during  the  late  wars,  from  the  depredations  of  the  Hyksos 
in  the  north  and  the  Aethiopians  in  the  south.  Aahmes 
was,  however,  equal  to  the  task,  He  immediately  set  to 
work  and  began  the  restoration  and  rebuilding  of  all  the 
temples  in  the  land.  His  own  city  of  Thebes  was  the 
special  object  of  his  care.  The  city  had  been  the  capital 
of  the  land  for  several  centuries,  and  already  the  kings 
of  the  twelfth  dynasty,  five  hundred  years  and  more  be- 
fore Aahmes's  time,  had  laid  the  first  foundations  of  its 
future  greatness.  They  had  laid,  too,  the  first  foundations 
of  the  great  national  temple  of  Egypt — the  temple  of  Amon 
at  Karnak.  This  temple  was  enlarged  by  our  king.  The 
city  steadily  grew  from  this  time  on,  and  in  the  course  of 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE.  69 

a  few  decades  became  the  greatest  city  of  the  land,  and 
consequently  of  the  then  known  world.  The  story  of  the 
rise,  decline,  and  fall  of  Thebes  is  an  integral  part  of 
Egyptian  history. 

When  Aahmes  died,  after  a  reign  of  over  twenty-two 
years,  he  was  buried  in  the  Theban  necropolis,  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Nile,  opposite  the  city,  at  Drah-abul- 
Neggah.  His  mummy,  incased  in  a  wooden  casket,  was 
recently  discovered  at  Der-el-bahari,  together  with  a  large 
number  of  other  royal  mummies. 

§  2.  Amenhdtep  I  {Amenofihis).  ^ 

Aahmes  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Amenhotep  I, 'the 
early  part  of  whose  reign  was  shared  with  his  mother, 
Aahmes-nefert-ari.  The  "queen  was,  after  her  death,  wor- 
shiped as  a  divinity,  an  honor  accorded  all  kings  but 
very  few  queens.  Early  in  this  reigh  the  Aethiopians 
again  became  troublesome,  and  the  pharaoh  marched 
against  them.  He  crossed  the  frontier,  and  in  the  battle 
that  ensued  captured  the  opposing  general  with  his  own 
hand.  The  victory  won,  the  Egyptian  army  overran  the 
country,  and  it  would  seem  that  some  detachments  even 
advanced  as  far  as  Meroe,  the  Aethiopian  capital.  The 
southern  campaign  was  brought  to  an  abrupt  close  by\the 
news  of  trouble  on  the  northern  frontier.  In  a  remark- 
ably short  time  the  king  arrived  at  the  seat  of  war — Libya 
— and  defeated  the  enemy*  This  king,  like  his  father,  was 
frequently  compelled  to  invade  Asia,  but  on  the  whole 
this  reign  was  more  peaceable  than  the  preceding  one. 
Amenhotep  was  a  great  builder,  and  continued  the  work 
of  improvement  and  restoration  begun  by  his  father.  He 
died  after  a  reign  of  twenty-two  years.  His  mummy  was 
found  at  Der-el-bahari. 

§  3.   Thutmosis  I. 

The  son  of  Amenhotep  I  was  a  very  young  man  when 
he  ascended  the  throne,  and  the  conquered  nations  sought 
to  take  advantage  of  this  fact  to  regain  their  independ- 
ence. Immediately  after  his  accession  the  Aethiopians 
began  war.  The  pharaoh  crossed  the  frontier,  and,  after 
defeating  the   enemy  in  a  decisive  battle,  overran  and 


70  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT, 

plundered  the  country,  drove  off  the  cattle,  and  carried 
large  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  into  slavery.  This  was 
the  usual  way  of  conducting  an  Aethiopian  campaign ;  it 
was,  as  a  rule,  no  more  than  a  raid,  made  to  punish  the 
Aethiopians  for  a  similar  raid  on  Egyptian  territory. 
Thutmosis  varied  the  usual  programme  by  hanging  the 
body  of  the  Aethiopian  leader  by  the  heels  to  the  stern  of 
the  royal  ship.  Thutmosis  now  instituted  a  new  Aethi- 
opian policy.  The  configuration  of  the  land  was  much  the 
same  as  that  of  Egypt,  and  it  was  not  over-difficult  to  in- 
troduce the  Egyptian  system  of  government  in  the  land. 
Accordingly,  he  divided  Aethiopia  into  a  number  of  dis- 
tricts, over  which  he  placed  governors,  while  over  the 
entire  region  he  set  a  governor-general  with  the  title  of 
"  Prince  of  Kush."  What  the  duties  of  this  official  were 
is  not  clear.  In  all  probability  he  was  a  sort  of  viceroy 
invested  with  civil  and  military  power  and  responsible  to 
the  king  alone.  This  official  held  a  high  position  at  the 
court,  and  was,  in  later  times,  not  unfrequently  a  royal 
prince.  Colonists  were  sent  out,  temples  built,  and  forts 
erected  and  garrisoned.  The  chief  of  these  forts  were 
Heh  (Semneh)  and  Aqen  (Kumneh),  which  had  been 
built  by  the  great  conqueror  of  Aethiopia,  Usertesen  III. 
They  were  no  doubt  greatly  strengthened  by  Thutmosis. 
Aethiopia  was  thus  secured,  and  even  made  a  province 
of  Egypt,  but  the  mountain  tribes  continued  to  be  trouble- 
some all  through  Egyptian  history. 

Early  in  this  reign,  too,  a  rebellion  broke  out  in  the  dis- 
trict of  the  city  of  Buto,  in  the  Delta,  and  so  serious  did  it 
become  that  the  pharaoh  was  compelled  to  proceed  against 
it  in  person.  He  succeeded  in  quelling  the  outbreak,  and  at 
once  marched  against  Asia.  Crossing  the  Arabian  Desert 
and  Palestine,  he  entered  the  land  of  Rutenu  (Syria). 
Here  an  army  had  been  drawn  up  to  check  his  advance, 
but  he  defeated  it  with  frightful  slaughter  and  took  large 
numbers  of  prisoners.  He  then  advanced  to  the  Euphra- 
tes River,  on  the  banks  of  which  he  set  up  two  stelae  to 
commemorate  his  victories  and  mark  the  boundaries  of 
his  realm.  Hereupon  the  Egyptian  army  retired ;  and 
herein  lay  the  radical  fault  of  the  Egyptian  foreign  policy. 
This  fault  cost  them  dear;  for  they  were  compelled  to 
send  army  after  army  into  Asia.  In  fact,  the  Asiatic 
campaigns  were  mostly  plundering  expeditions  on  a  large 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE.  75 

River.  This  town  met  with  the  usual  fate.  Aradus  was 
again  taken  and  sacked,  and  Tyre  suffered  the  same  fate 
after  a  short  siege. 

The  following  two  years  were  devoted  to  a  great  cam- 
paign in  Palestine.  The  fortress  of  Anretu,  on  Lake 
Nesruna,  was  taken  and  sacked  after  a  short  siege,  and 
the  entire  country  was  overrun,  as  was  also  part  of  Syria. 
In  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  reign  Thutmosis  again  in- 
vaded Syria,  and  this  time  advanced  to  the  Euphrates 
River.  Sailing  down  the  stream,  the  pharaoh  proceeded 
against  the  King  of  Neharen  (Mesopotamia),  who  had 
massed  his  forces  near  his  capital,  Nil.  These  forces 
were  defeated,  and  Nil  was  taken  and  sacked.  Sailing 
still  farther  down  the  river,  Thutmosis  took  a  number  of 
forts.  He  then  returned  to  Nil  and  instituted  a  great  ele- 
phant-hunt, on  which  occasion  a  hundred  and  twenty  of 
these  noble  animals  were  killed.  In  the  following  year 
another  rebellion  broke  out  in  Syria,  where  three  cities 
lying  in  the  district  of  Anaukasa  had  formed  a  coalition. 
Again  the  pharaoh  invaded  the  country,  punished  the 
rebels,  and  returned  home  with  a  long  string  of  captives 
and  laden  with  booty.  In  this  same  year  one  of  the 
Aethiopian  princes  sent  the  king  his  daughter  as  a  present. 
In  the  following  six  years  only  two  campaigns  of  impor- 
tance were  undertaken.  The  first  of  these  was  against 
the  Syrian  fortress  of  Areana,  in  the  thirty-fifth  year ;  the 
second  was  against  the  fortress  olAnau  kasa,  in  the  same 
country,  which  city  had  given  trouble  before,  three  years 
later.  In  the  forty-first  year  of  his  reign  the  king  set  out 
on  his  last  Asiatic  campaign.  Marching  along  the  sea- 
coast,  he  first  took  the  fortress  oiArantu,  and  then,  enter- 
ing Palestine,  captured  several  cities.  Entering  Syria  he 
next  took  the  town  of  Tunep,  and  hereupon  marched 
against  Qadesh,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  soul  of  the 
new  coalition.  He  defeated  the  Cheta.  army  before  the 
city,  which  he.  then  laid  siege  to.  A  Mesopotamian  army, 
which  made  an  attempt  to  raise  the  siege,  was  utterly 
routed,  and  left  six  hundred  and  ninety-one  prisoners  in 
the  hands  of  the  victor.  Qadesh  was  now  stormed  and 
sacked.  This  ended  all  opposition  to  Egyptian  rule  in 
Asia :  the  backbone  of  the  country  was  broken. 

Thutmosis  has  left  us  long  lists  of  names  of  captured 
cities  and  conquered  nations  containing  hundreds  of  names ; 


76  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT, 

but  only  very  few  of  these  can  be  identified  with  names  of 
cities  occurring  elsewhere,  and  we  are  utterly  in  the  dark 
as  regards  the  situation  of  most  of  these  cities  and  countries. 
The  extent  of  these  conquests  has  been  greatly  exagger- 
ated. On  the  whole,  the  Amanus  Mountains  and  the 
Euphrates  River  seem  to  have  been  the  boundaries  of  the 
conquered  region.*  Although  the  king  certainly  did  cross 
the  Euphrates  twice,  and  did  defeat  the  armies  of  Meso- 
potamia and  take  Mesopotamian  cities,  he  did  not  succeed 
in  holding  these  conquests.  That  he  reached  the  city 
of  Nineveh  is  very  doubtful.  Nil  may  be  the  Egyptian 
name  of  Nineveh,  but  in  all  probability  it  is  the  name  of  a 
city  lying  much  farther  up  the  river  on  the  other  side  from 
the  country  of  the  Cheta ;  its  king  seems  to  have  been 
allied  with  the  Syrian  countries  with  which  Thutmosis  was 
at  war.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  king  in  the  thirty-third 
year  of  his  reign  set  up  two  stelae  on  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates,  near  Nil,  by  the  side  of  those  set  up  his  father, 
Thutmosis  I.  The  coast  of  Phoenicia  was  under  Egyptian 
control.  Aradus,  Symiria,  Joppa,  and  Tyre  submitted  only 
after  a  siege  ;  the  other  cities  seem  to  have  yielded  with- 
out a  struggle.  It  was  obviously  to  their  advantage  to 
stand  under  Egyptian  rule,  for  Egyptian  rule  meant  Egyp- 
tian protection,  and  the  wily  Phoenician  merchants  soon 
found  that  they  could  reap  great  commercial  advantages 
from  their  connection  with  Egypt.  The  Phoenician  colo- 
nies in  Cyprus  (Eg.  Asebi)  also  submitted  voluntarily, 
and  paid  tribute,  though  standing  in  no  danger  of  invasion 
from  Egypt.  This  ready  submission  secured  for  them 
great  advantages — the  protection  of  Egypt  and  unbroken 
connection  with  the  mother-land,  As  Egypt  did  not  in- 
terfere in  their  internal  affairs,  the  Phoenician  cities  of  the 
mainland  and  of  Cyprus  cheerfully  paid  tribute. 

The  material  prosperity  of  Egypt  was  greatly  aug- 
mented by  the  successes  of  this  king,  and  all  the  tombs, 
even  those  of  the  humbler  citizens,  give  evidence  of  this 
fact.  Generals  and  soldiers  enriched  themselves  in  these 
Asiatic  campaigns  as  well  as  the  pharaoh.  The  lion's 
share  of  the  booty  and  tribute,  however,  went  to  Amon, 
the  great  god  of  Thebes.  In  the  name  of  Amon  Thutmo- 
sis had  undertaken  his  campaigns,  and  with  the  aid  of  the 

*  See  map. 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE.  77 

god  he  had  won  his  victories  ;  and  in  gratitude  to  him  the 
king  erected  the  mighty  buildings  at  Karnak,  on  the  walls 
of  which  he  proclaimed  these  victories.  But  the  other  gods 
were  not  forgotten  ;  in  all  parts  of  Egypt  the  king  built, 
restored,  or  completed  temples.  Of  special  importance 
was  the  temple  of  Semneh,  which  was  dedicated  to  the 
deified  King  Usertesen  III,  the  conqueror  of  Aethiopia. 
In  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  reign  this  mighty  ruler  died 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son.  The  mummy  of  this  king 
was  found  in  a  shaft  at  Der-el-bahari.  The  monarch 
was  a  small  man — the  mummy  is  only  five  feet  two  inches 
long — but  with  a  determined  cast  of  features,  somewhat 
resembling  that  of  Napoleon  I. 

§  7.  Amenhotep  II,  Amenophis  {1427-1422  B.  C.). 

One  day  after  the  death  of  his  father,  Amenhotep  II 
ascended  the  throne.  Already  as  crown  prince  he  had 
shown  his  ability  in  subjugating  the  nomadic  tribes  that 
dwelt  in  the  mountains  between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea, 
and  compelling  them  to  pay  tribute.  Immediately  after 
his  coronation  the  new  pharaoh  invaded  Asia  and  gained 
a  series  of  brilliant  victories.  It  seems  that  a  new  rebell- 
ion had  broken  out,  and  that  the  distant  city  of  Nil  alone 
had  remained  loyal,  for  when  he  entered  this  town  the  in- 
habitants received  him  with  demonstrations  of  great  joy. 
The  campaign  came  to  an  end  with  the  capture  of  the 
fortress  of  Akati.  His  next  campaign  was  directed  against 
the  country  of  Techsi,  in  Syria,  where  he  fought  against  a 
mighty  coalition.  Seven  native  kings  were  killed,  and  the 
land' was  again  subdued.  The  bodies  of  the  dead  kings 
he  took  with  him  to  Egypt ;  six  of  them  he  had  hung  up 
on  the  walls  of  his  capital,  Thebes,  and  one  on  the  walls  of 
Napata,  as  a  warning  to  the  Aethiopians.  Like  all  rulers 
of  this  dynasty,  he  was  a  great  builder.  He  died  after  a 
short  reign  of  only  five  years. 

§  8.   Thut7nosis  IV  (1421-1414  B.  C). 

Of  the  son  and  successor  of  Amenhotep  we  know  little 
more  than  that  he  ruled  only  seven  years.  He  fought  in 
Aethiopia,  Phoenicia,  and  Syria,  probably  quelling  minor 
revolts  and  repelling  invasions  of  nomadic  tribes.     In  the 


78  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

first  year  of  his  reign  he  caused  the  great  Sphinx  of  Gizeh 
to  be  freed  from  the  sand  which  had  accumulated  about 
this  venerable  monument. 

§  9.  Amenhdtep  III  (i^ij-ijy/  b.  a). 

In  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign,  Amenhdtep  III,  the  son 
and  successor  of  Thutmosis  IV,  invaded  Aethiopia,  and 
easily  subdued  a  number  of  rebellious  Nubian  tribes. 
The  victory  did  not  amount  to  much,  but  the  pharaoh 
made  a  great  fuss  over  it,  having  it  recorded  on  several 
stelae.  This  reign  marked  a  new  era  in  the  relations  with 
Asia.  A  number  of  tablets  was  recently  found  at  Tell- 
el-Amarna,  which  contain  letters  addressed  by  Asiatic 
kings  to  kings  of  Egypt.  A  number  of  these  is  addressed 
to  Amenhotep  III.  The  most  interesting  one  is  that  from 
King  Dushratta,  of  Mitdni  (Eg.  Satarna  of  Neharen — ■ 
i.  e.,  Mesopotamia),  in  which  Amenhotep  is  called  the 
son-in-law  of  Dushratta.  This  Dushratta  is  no  doubt 
identical  with  the  King  Satarna  of  Neharen,  who,  in  the 
tenth  year  of  this  reign,  sent  Amenhotep  his  daughter 
Kirkipa  and  three  hundred  and  seventeen  ladies  for  the 
pharaoh's  harem.  Although  already  happily  wedded  to 
Queen  Tii%  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  of  all  an- 
tiquity, the  pharaoh  had  no  recourse  but  to  make  the 
princess  his  legitimate  wife.  This  marriage  was,  in  all 
probability,  entered  into  after  the  final  ratification  of  a 
treaty  concluded  between  the  two  monarchs,  and,  in  fact, 
the  treaty  concluded  between  Amenophis's  son,  Chuenaten, 
and  Dushratta  distinctly  refers  to  this  previous  treaty. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  letters  addressed  to  this  king 
and  to  his  son  are  written  in  Assyrian.  The  king  was  a 
passionate  hunter,  and  an  inscription  engraved  on  several 
scarabasi  relates  that  in  the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign  he 
killed  a  hundred  and  two  lions. 

Like  all  his  predecessors,  Amenhotep  was  a  great 
builder.  He  was  the  builder  of  the  celebrated  temple  of 
Amon-Ra,  at  Louqsor.  The  two  celebrated  "  statues  of 
Memnon,"  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river  opposite  Thebes, 
belong  to  this  monarch.  They  stood  originally  in  front 
of  the  pylon  of  his  temple  in  the  necropolis ;  but  every 
trace  of  the  temple  has  vanished.  The  statues  were 
erected  at  his  orders  by  the  architect  and  sculptor  Amen- 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE.  79 

hotep,  the  son  of  Hdpi.  They  are  of  hard  red  crystalline 
sandstone,  quarried  at  the  Djebel-el-Ahmar  (Eg.  Du 
desher),  in  the  desert  northeast  of  Memphis.  The  Greeks 
took  the  statues  for  those  of  the  Aethiopian  king  Memnon, 
mentioned  by  Homer,  and  explained  the  sound  produced 
by  the  northern  statue  as  the  greeting  of  Memnon  to  his 
mother,  Eos.  The  explanation  of  this  sound  is  very  sim- 
ple. The  upper  portion  of  the  statue  was  broken,  and 
when  the  sun  rose  the  change  in  temperature  caused  the 
particles  of  stone  in  the  crack  to  split,  and  this  splitting 
produced  a  musical  sound.  After  the  statue  was  repaired 
by  Septimus  Severus  (reigned  A.  D.  193-21 1),  the  sound 
was  no  longer  heard. 

§  10.  Amenhotep  IV,  Chuenaten  (1J/6-IJ64  B.  C). 

This  pharaoh  is  to  us  one  of  the  most  interesting  of 
ancient  monarchs,  as  the  first  promulgator  of  monotheism. 
The  Egyptian  people  up  to  this  time  had  possessed  no 
uniform  religion,  but  a  large  number  of  religions  had 
existed  side  by  side,  some  being  recognized  throughout 
the  land,  others  having  only  local  import,  while  one  re- 
ligion— that  of  the  national  capital — was  the  official  re- 
ligion of  the  government.  At  this  time  Thebes  was  the 
capital  of  the  land,  and  the  Theban  religion  was  the  gov- 
ernment faith ;  consequently,  the  head  of  the  Theban 
pantheon,  Anion,  was  the  official  head  of  the  national  pan- 
theon. But  there  had  arisen  in  Heliopolis  (Eg.  On),  the 
great  seat  of  the  Rd-rtY\g\on,  already  in  early  times  a 
movement  toward  a  solar  monotheism,  and  in  Chuenaten's 
reign  this  movement  was  victorious.  The  new  king  was 
a  fanatical  adherent  of  this  doctrine ;  he,  moreover,  seems 
to  have  stood  entirely  under  the  domination  of  the  Helio- 
politan  priests,  and  gladly  lent  his  hand  to  accomplish 
their  purposes.  A  new  official  religion  was  accordingly 
proclaimed.  This  was  a  solar  monotheism  ;  the  new  god 
was,  with  a  studied  avoidance  of  the  old  names,  called 
Aten,  "  the  Solar  Disk,"  and  was  proclaimed  to  the  nation 
as  their  sole  and  only  god.  If  this  had  signified  merely 
a  change  in  the  official  religion  of  Egypt,  and  not  in  the 
very  inmost  nature  of  the  religion,  the  people  would  have 
heeded  it  little  and  gone  on  praying  to  their  own  local 
gods,  and  officially  recognizing  the  new  official  head  of  the 
8 


80  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

pantheon,  as  they  had  done  heretofore.  But  here  was  a 
complete  and  utter  religious  revolution,  pronouncing  all 
of  the  old  faiths  heretical  and  supplanting  them  by  a  faith 
the  nature  of  which  the  people  did  not  and  could  not  un- 
derstand. A  propaganda  of  this  character,  no  doubt 
assisted  by  attempts  to  convert  the  people  by  force,  natu- 
rally led  to  discontent ;  and  it  was  probably  owing  to  this 
that  the  reformers  graciously  permitted  the  solar  divinities 
Horus,  Rd,  Rdharmachis,  and  some  few  others  to  con- 
tinue in  existence,  explaining  them  as  forms  of  their  new 
and  only  god  Aten.  Amon,  however,  was  persecuted  in 
the  approved  orthodox  manner.  Wherever  he  could, 
Amenhotep,  or,  as  he  now  called  himself,  Chuenaten,  had 
the  name  of  this  hated  divinity  obliterated  from  the  monu- 
ments, even  in  the  names  of  his  predecessors. 

After  the  reformation  Chuenaten  left  the  tainted  city 
of  Thebes,  the  stronghold  of  the  old  Amon  cult,  and  built 
himself  a  new  capital  to  the  north  of  this  city,  and  called  it 
Chut-Aten,  "  The  Horizon  of  the  Solar  Disk."  The  ruins 
of  this  town,  which  was  never  completed,  lie  at  a  place 
called  Tell-el-Amarna,  and  are  of  peculiar  interest  as 
they,  together  with  the  tombs  in  the  necropolis  of  the  city, 
give  us  a  life-like  picture  of  the  court  of  this  fanatical 
and  half-crazed  king.  One  of  his  peculiarities  was  to  sub- 
stitute for  the  conventional  style  of  Egyptian  sculpture  a 
more  realistic  style.  The  pharaoh  himself  was  hideously 
ugly,  owing  to  a  bodily  deformity,  and  he  commanded  his 
artists  henceforth  to  depict  him  in  his  real  shape.  Natu- 
rally, his  wife — who  seems,  by  the  by,  to  have  had  quite  a 
lovely  face — and  daughters  were  pictured  as  equally  ugly, 
and  the  courtiers,  as  true  courtiers  would,  aped  royalty, 
and  had  themselves  depicted  in  the  likeness  of  their  king. 

Unfortunately,  the  reformation  proved  a  failure,  and 
we  know  but  little  of  the  new  faith.  Long  and  beautiful 
hymns,  full  of  fervent  devotion,  addressed  to  Aten,  have 
come  down  to  us,  as  have  also  various  representations  of 
religious  ceremonies.  The  new  god  is  always  depicted 
as  a  solar  disk,  the  rays  of  which  terminate  in  hands  ;  but 
the  monuments  do  not  give  us  any  deeper  insight  into  the 
new  religion. 

There  was  in  this  reign  no  trouble  with  Asia.  This 
was  a  result  of  the  diplomatic  negotiations  begun  under 
Amenhotep  III,  and  concluded  by  this  pharaoh.     Trea- 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE,  81 

ties  of  peace  were  concluded  with  Dushratta,  of  Mitdni 
(Satarna,  King  of  Neharen,  i.  e.,  Mesopotamia),  Burna- 
buriash,  King  of  Karduniash  (Babylonia),  and  Ashuru- 
ballit,  King  of  Assyria.  All  these  treaties  contain  ref- 
erences to  former  negotiations  with  Amenhotep  III ;  they 
are  all  written  in  Assyrian,  and  are  quite  difficult  of  inter- 
pretation, though  the  general  import  of  these  documents 
can  easily  be  given. 

After  a  reign  of  only  twelve  years  Chuenaten  died, 
and  it  is  not  at  all  doubtful  that  he  lost  his  life  in  a  revolt 
brought  on  by  his  fanatical  attempts  to  convert  the  peo- 
ple to  his  new  faith  by  force.  He  had  no  son,  but  seven 
daughters,  who  were  married  to  Egyptian  nobles.  Dis- 
putes over  the  succession  immediately  arose,  and  the 
country  was  plunged  into  all  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war. 

§  ii.  The  Struggle  for  the  Succession  {about  B.  C.  1363- 
i34o). 

How  long  the  civil  war  lasted  we  can  not  say,  nor 
do  we  know  exactly  in  what  order  the  various  kings  that 
followed  Chuenaten  succeeded  one  another.  In  all  proba- 
bility the  next  successor  of  Chuenaten  was  Seaa-ka- 
Ra  Sanecht,  the  husband  of  his  favorite  daughter, 
Meraten.  He  was  throughout  his  short  reign  a  firm  ad- 
herent to  the  faith  of  his  father-in-law ;  but  the  revolution 
that  had  dethroned  his  father-in-law  proved  fatal  to  him 
also.  He  was  deposed  by  the  priest  Ai,  who  was  origi- 
nally a  firm  adherent  to  the  Aten-religion.  Ai'  was  a 
brother  of  one  of  Chuenaten's  nurses,  and  had  risen  rap- 
idly at  court  until  he  attained  the  position  of  Lord  Equerry, 
one  of  the  highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  crown.  At 
the  time  Ai'  dethroned  Sanecht,  the  reaction  was  at  its 
height,  and  Ai"  was  not  the  man  to  swim  against  the  tide. 
He  therefore  returned  to  the  old  faith  and  the  old  capital. 
But  he  had  nothing  outside  of  this  to  recommend  him  to 
the  people,  and  so  his  apostacy  availed  him  little.  Four 
years  after  he  had  wrested  the  crown  from  Sanecht  he 
was  overthrown,  and  Ded-anch-Amon,  the  husband 
of  Chuenaten's  third  daughter  Anchnes-pa-Aten,  who  now 
changed  her  name  to  Anchnes- Anion,  ascended  the  throne. 
Like  his  predecessor,  he  was  an  apostate  from  the  Aten- 
religion,  but  this  policy  availed  him  as  little  as  it  had  his 


82  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

antagonist.  After  a  reign  of  only  four  years  he  lost  his 
throne  and  his  life,  and  with  him  the  last  of  Chuenaten's 
heirs  sank  into  the  grave.  After  his  death  the  confusion 
became  worse  than  ever.  King  after  king  ascended  the 
throne,  but  they  all  fell  before  they  had  tightened  their 
grasp  on  the  reins  of  state.  How  long  this  state  of  affairs 
lasted  we  can  not  say,  but  in  our  opinion  the  entire  period 
from  the  death  of  Chuenaten  to  the  end  of  the  civil  war 
can  not  have  embraced  less  than  about  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  years.  At  length  Hor-em-heb,  who  was  in  some  way, 
possibly  through  his  wife,  MuUnetjem,  connected  with  the 
royal  family,  succeeded  in  restoring  order,  and  with  him 
begins  the  nineteenth  dynasty. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  NINETEENTH   DYNASTY — ABOUT    I33O-I180    B.   C, 

§  i.  Hor-em-heb  (1 340-1320  B.  a). 

About  1340  b.  C.  Hor-em-heb  succeeded  in  restoring 
order  in  the  kingdom.  His  accession  to  the  throne  marks 
a  new  era  in  Egyptian  history,  that  of  the  nineteenth  dy- 
nasty, in  which  Egypt,  though  its  armies  no  longer 
marched  to  the  Euphrates  and  became  the  terror  of  the 
Mesopotamian  rulers,  yet  succeeded  in  making  a  part  of 
Asia  an  integral  part  of  its  empire.  The  preceding  dynasty 
had  produced  great  conquerors  who  stand  unrivaled  in 
the  annals  of  the  land  of  Qemet.  This  dynasty  produced 
rulers  who  were  great  warriors,  and,  but  for  events  which 
had  occurred  in  Asia  during  the  latter  part  of  Dynasty 
XVIII,  would  have  equaled  the  two  great  Thutmoses  in 
extent  of  conquests,  and  who  were  besides  great  organ- 
izers. How  they  succeeded  in  incorporating  Palestine, 
Phoenicia,  and  southern  Syria  in  the  kingdom  we  shall 
presently  see.  The  great  mistake  of  these  rulers  was 
that  they  little  by  little  substituted  Libyan  mercenaries  for 
the  national  armies  that  had  hitherto  been  the  sole  reli- 
ance of  Egypt,  and  we  shall  have  occasion  to  trace  the 
grave  results  of  this  mistake. 

A  long  inscription  on  a  statue  of  Hor-em-heb,  preserved 
in  Turin,  gives  us  an  account  of  his  early  life  and  relates 
how  he  came  to  the  throne.  He  was  brought  up  in  the 
city  of  Hat-sid en,  and  already  in  his  early  youth  was 
highly  honored.  He  was  a  member  of  the  family  of 
Thutmosis  III,  whom  he  calls  the  father  of  his  father — i.  e., 
his  ancestor.  When  he  was  still  a  very  young  man  the 
ruling  pharaoh,  whose  name  is  not  mentioned,  appointed 
him  to  a  high  position  in  the  eighteenth  Upper  Egyptian 
nome  {Saped),  which  was  his  home.     As  he  made  a  good 


84  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

record  in  this  position  he  was  made  aden  (i.  e.,  general), 
and  in  this  position  he  received  the  tributes  of  the  foreign 
princes  and  all  the  princes  had  to  bow  down  before  him. 
After  he  had  held  this  position  for  a  number  of  years  and 
had  shown  great  ability,  he  was  appointed  nomarchos  of 
Safied.  This  position  he  held  when,  as  the  text  puts  it, 
Horus  and  Amon  decided  to  place  him  on  the  throne. 
Hor-em-heb  certainly  had  a  good  right  to  the  succession, 
being  a  lineal  descendant  of  Thutmosis  III ;  but  his  chief 
claim  lay  in  the  fact  that  he  had  succeeded  in  triumphing 
over  all  the  usurpers  that  had  arisen  after  the  death  of 
the  last  pharaoh  of  Chuenaten's  line.  On  the  close  of  the 
civil  war  he  proceeded  to  Thebes,  where  he  married  the 
royal  princess  Mut-netjem  and  was  .crowned  king.  His 
campaigns  were  chiefly  in  the  south,  where  he  put  down 
a  number  of  rebellious  Nubian  tribes.  We  also  know 
that  he  conducted  several  campaigns  in  the  north  with 
the  usual  success.  It  would  seem,  too,  that  the  connec- 
tions with  southern  Arabia  and  the  Somali  coast  were 
kept  up,  for  the  inscriptions  mention  the  tribute  of  the 
Prince  of  Pewent.  Hor-em-heb  tells  us  that  he  restored 
the  temples  of  the  land  from  the  Delta  to  Nubia  and  in- 
creased the  numbers  of  their  slaves  and  the  amounts  of 
the  sacrificial  offerings.  Of  the  temples,  those  of  Thebes, 
On-Heliopolis,  and  Memphis  were  specially  favored.  Hor- 
em-heb  died  after  a  reign  of  about  twenty  years. 

§  2.  Ramses  I  (1319-737/  B.  C). 

Very  little  is  known  of  Hor-em-heb's  son  and  succes- 
sor, Ramses.  He  made  several  raids  into  Nubia,  and 
shortly  before  his  death  appointed  his  son,  Seti,  co-regent. 
He  died  after  a  reign  of  only  two  years.  His  mummy 
was  among  those  found  at  Der-el-banari. 

§  3.  Seti  I  {13 16-1289  B.  C.). 

The  son  and  successor  of  Ramses  I  was  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  warlike  of  all  the  Egyptian  kings.  Al- 
ready in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  he  was  compelled  to  in- 
vade Asia.  Starting  from  the  Chetem — i.  e.,  fort  of  Tjar, 
which  lay  on  the  fresh-water  canal  that  formed  the  east- 
ern boundary-line  of  Egypt — he  first  attacked  and  easily 


THE  NINETEENTH  DYNASTY.  85 

defeated  the  Shasu — i.  e.,  the  nomadic  tribes  dwelling  in 
the  Arabian  Desert — and  then  entered  Canaan,  defeated 
the  inhabitants,  took  their  capital,  and  erected  and  gar- 
risoned forts  and  dug  wells  in  the  conquered  country.  It 
is  evident  that  the  pharaoh  desired  to  hold  the  land  per- 
manently, and  thus  to  secure  Egypt  against  all  further  in- 
roads from  Asia.  This  rapid  success  of  the  Egyptian 
army  spread  terror  over  all  Syria,  and  the  Syrian  princes 
submitted  peaceably  and  paid  tribute.  Several  strongly 
fortified  towns,  however,  held  out  and  had  to  be  taken  by 
force  of  arms.  Among  these  were  Qadesh^  a  city  of  the 
Amorites  (in  the  district  allotted  to  the  tribe  of  Naphtali), 
that  must  not  be  confounded  with  Qadesh  on  the  Orontes, 
the  capital  of  the  Cheta,  and  the  fortress  of  Jenuam. 
Seeing  these  Egyptian  successes,  Mautenouer,  the  king 
of  the  Cheta,  naturally  thinking  he  would  be  attacked 
next,  determined  to  take  a  hand  in  the  game.  He  was 
defeated,  but  Seti  gained  no  permanent  advantage  over 
him.  If  we  possessed  the  monuments  of  this  Cheta  king, 
we  certainly  would  read  of  victories  gained  over  the 
Egyptians.  Seti  now  returned  home.  At  Tjar  he  was 
met  by  a  procession  of  priests  and  nobles,  who  con- 
ducted him  to  Thebes  in  triumphal  procession.  The  suc- 
cesses of  this  pharaoh  must  not  be  overestimated.  All 
he  succeeded  in  doing  was  to  conquer  the  land  lying  be- 
tween the  Egyptian  and  the  Cheta  frontier.  The  petty 
sovereigns  of  southern  Syria  fell  an  easy  prey  to  him,  but 
the  mighty  Cheta  king  succeeded  in  checking  his  advance. 
The  "  lists  "  of  "  conquered  "  lands  and  cities  are  very 
unreliable,  many  of  the  names  having  been  copied  from 
the  lists  of  Thutmosis  III. 

In  the  later  years  of  his  reign  Seti  was  compelled  to 
march  against  the  Tehenu — i.  e.,  the  Libyans,  who  had 
again  begun  to  make  inroads  on  the  western  frontier. 
The  Libyan  tribes,  who  were  savage  and  warlike,  had  for 
centuries  almost  constantly  been  at  war  with  Egypt,  and, 
though  at  first  easily  defeated,  had  in  the  course  of  time 
become  very  dangerous  foes.  In  this  reign  they  began  a 
series  of  invasions  which  were  repelled  only  with  great 
difficulty.  Seti  was  compelled  to  defeat  them  again  and 
again  before  he  succeeded  in  subduing  them  for  the  time 
being.  These  tribes  soon  assumed  the  same  position  as 
regards  Egypt  that  the  German  tribes  in  later  times  held 


86  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

as  regards  the  Roman  Empire.  They  began  as  enemies 
and  invaders,  and  with  time,  finding  it  profitable  to  serve 
the  pharaoh,  entered  the  Egyptian  service  as  mercenaries. 
These  mercenaries  soon  supplanted  the  native  troops,  and 
in  several  centuries  gained  such  controlling  influence  that, 
some  four  hundred  years  after  Setz's  time,  their  com- 
mander-in-chief, Sheshonq,  could  grasp  the  scepter  and 
ascend  the  throne  of  the  pharaohs.  The  Tehenu  tribes 
that  entered  the  Egyptian  service  in  this  and  the  follow- 
ing reigns  were  the  Mashawasha  and  the  Qahaq,  In 
connection  with  these  tribes  there  appears  now  for  the 
first  time  the  tribe  of  the  Shardana.  Large  bodies  of 
these  Shardana  entered  the  service  of  Egypt  under  Ram- 
ses II,  and  a  poem  celebrating  this  monarch's  victory  over 
the  Cheta  states  that  they  were  originally  prisoners  of 
war.  The  armament  of  these  men  was  peculiar ;  they 
carried  small  round  shields  or  bucklers  and  a  long,  sharp- 
pointed  lance,  and  wore  helmets  with  a  round  ball  on  top. 
They  also  had  full  beards,  while  the  Egyptian  soldiers 
wore  no  beards  at  all.  In  later  times  they  are  called 
" people  of  the  sea."  Their  home  must  consequently 
have  been  some  coast  district  or  island  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean. We  have  no  reason  whatsoever  to  identify  them 
with  the  Sardinians.  In  all  probability  they  were  a  tribe 
that  dwelt  on  the  northern  coast  of  Africa. 

The  architectural  activity  of  this  ruler  was  confined 
chiefly  to  Thebes,  where  he  built  at  the  temple  of  Amon- 
Ra  at  Karnak.  Here  he  began  the  magnificent  hypo- 
style,  which  was  completed  by  his  son  and  successor.  In 
the  necropolis  of  Thebes,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Nile, 
he  restored  two  funereal  temples,  that  of  Ma-ka-Ra  at 
D£r-el-bahari,  and  that  of  Thutmosis  III  at  Medinet-Habu. 
He  also  began  a  funereal  temple  dedicated  to  his  father, 
Ramses  I,  at  Abd-el-Qurnah,  which  was  completed  by 
Ramses  II,  who  dedicated  it  to  Seti,  in  conjunction  with 
Ramses  I.  The  king  also  restored  temples  in  all  parts  of 
Egypt.  The  mines  of  the  Set  Mafkat — i.  e.,  "  Malachite 
Region,"  as  the  Egyptians  called  the  Sinai — he  held  and 
operated.  The  quarries  in  Egypt  proper  were,  of  course, 
in  full  operation,  and  the  gold-mines  of  Aethiopia  were 
worked.  Of  these  gold-mines  there  has  been  preserved, 
in  a  Turin  papyrus,  a  map  which,  though  crudely  drawn,  is 
easily  intelligible — the  oldest  map  extant. 


THE  NINETEENTH  DYNASTY.  87 

Before  his  death  Seti  appointed  his  young  son  Ramses 
co-regent,  but  this  appointment  was  merely  nominal. 
Ramses  certainly  never  exercised  the  functions  of  this 
office.  He  himself  conceived  it  in  this  spirit,  never  dating 
his  reign  from  his  appointment,  as  the  kings  of  the  twelfth 
dynasty  had  done,  but  from  his  actual  accession  to  the 
throne  as  sole  ruler.  Seti  died  after  a  reign  of  about 
twenty-seven  years.  The  mummy  of  this  ruler  was  found 
in  a  shaft  at  Der-el-bahari,  where  it  had  been  hid  to  pro- 
tect it  against  the  tomb-robbers  that  invested  the  necrop- 
olis in  the  times  of  the  priest-kings  of  Dynasty  XXI.  The 
features  are  strongly  marked,  and  give  evidence  of  great 
mental  vigor  and  strength  of  will. 

§  4.  Ramses  II  {1288-1221  B.  a). 

This  king  has  long  been  overestimated  by  those  who 
followed  Greek  tradition  in  Egyptian  history.  That  this 
tradition  is  utterly  untrustworthy  has  been  pointed  out  in 
the  introduction,  and  its  utter  wrorthlessness  is  here  glar- 
ingly illustrated.  The  Greeks  called  this  king  Sesostris, 
and  made  him  the  representative  of  Egyptian  greatness. 
The  name  of  Sesostris  is  undoubtedly  authentic,  being  a 
corruption  of  Sesetsu — a  name  applied  to  this  king  in  a 
critical  letter  written  either  in  his  reign  or  shortly  after- 
ward. He  has  been  declared  the  greatest  of  all  the  pha- 
raohs,  while  in  reality  he  is  to  be  placed  after  several 
others.  Of  all  the  greatest  was  undoubtedly  Thutmosis 
III ;  next  after  him  we  can  place  his  father,  Thutmosis  I ; 
then  come  Usertesen  III,  the  conqueror  of  Aethiopia,  and 
Seti  I,  who  conquered  Libya  and  prepared  the  way  for 
Ramses  II  in  Asia. 

We  give  now  a  brief  summary  of  the  Greek  accounts 
of  this  king,  and  the  reader  can  then  himself  compare 
them  with  the  authentic  history  gleaned  from  the  monu- 
ments of  this  reign,  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  very 
suspicious  "  lists "  of  "  conquered  nations,"  are  entirely 
trustworthy.  Herodotus  and  Diodorus  Siculus  are  the 
principal  sources  for  the  Sesostris  legend.  According  to 
them,  Sesostris  was  educated  together  with  all  boys  born 
on  the  same  day  with  himself.  While  yet  crown  prince  he 
was  sent  against  the  Aethiopians,  and  subdued  their  en- 
tire country ;  then  he  marched  against  Libya,  and  con- 


88  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

quered  the  greater  part  of  that  country.  His  father  dying 
soon  after,  he  determined  to  conquer  the  world.  Rais- 
ing an  army  of  six  hundred  thousand  infantry,  twenty- 
four  thousand  cavalry,  and  twenty-seven  thousand  char- 
iots, he  put  them  under  command  of  the  seventeen 
hundred  boys  educated  together  with  him.  This  vast 
army  first  marched  against  Aethiopia  (!),  and,  conquer- 
ing the  entire  country,  levied  a  tribute  of  gold,  ebony, 
and  ivory.  (Why  conquer  Aethiopia,  which,  according 
to  the  same  authority,  he  had  already  conquered  ?)  He 
then  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  four  hundred  sail,  the  first  (!) 
Egyptian  fleet,  and,  penetrating  to  the  land  where  the  cin- 
namon grows  and  the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  con- 
quered the  land  of  the  Ichthyophagoi,  and  erected  stelae 
there.  Then  he  crossed  to  Arabia  and  overran  that  coun- 
try and  the  Asiatic  coasts  as  far  as  India.  In  proof  of 
this,  they  state  that  up  to  their  time  there  were  to  be  seen 
in  that  country  many  "  ramparts  of  Sesostris,"  as  well  as 
numerous  imitations  of  Egyptian  temples.  His  land-forces 
crossed  the  Ganges  and  conquered  India.  He  next  over- 
ran the  country  of  the  Scythians  up  to  the  Tanai's  River 
(the  modern  Don  River  f).  Here  a  part  of  his  troops 
remained,  and  from  them  are  descended  the  Colchoi. 
According  to  Pliny's  version,  however,  Sesostris  did  not 
succeed  in  invading  the  country,  but  was  defeated  by 
Saulaces,  King  of  Colchis.  The  king  next  entered  Europe, 
and  overran  Thrace.  Here  his  army  was  almost  entirely 
broken  up  by  hardships  and  starvation.  At  length,  after 
nine  years  of  continued  warfare,  he  returned  home  laden 
with  booty.  In  all  of  the  conquered  lands  Sesostris  set 
up  stelse.  Some  of  these  monuments  alleged  to  have  been 
erected  by  him  were  shown  to  Herodotus  in  Ionia  and 
Syria.  Manetho  relates  that,  when  Sesostris  set  out  on  his 
campaigns,  he  had  appointed  his  brother  Harmai's  regent 
during  his  absence.  After  the  king's  return  Harmais  re- 
volted, but  was  defeated  at  Pelusium. 

The  Egyptian  account  differs  materially  from  this. 
In  Libya,  Ramses  fought  only  as  crown  prince  under  his 
father's  leadership.  The  monuments  do,  indeed,  mention 
campaigns  in  Aethiopia,  but  these  were  most  probably 
directed  only  against  the  mountain  tribes  that  made  con- 
stant inroads  on  the  civilized  portion  of  Aethiopia.  The 
country  proper  was  an  integral  part  of  Egypt  and  had 


THE  NINETEENTH  DYNASTY.  89 

been  so  for  centuries,  and  it  was  entirely  unnecessary  to 
reconquer  it.  The  great  seat  of  the  war  in  this  reign 
was  Asia.  In  the  second  year  of  his  reign  the  pharaoh 
started  on  his  first  campaign  m  this  region.  It  would 
seem  that  disturbances  had  occurred  in  Palestine  and 
the  land  of  the  Amorites,  and  that  this  campaign  was 
necessary  to  restore  order.  Several  cities  had  to  be  taken, 
but,  on  the  whole,  the  restoration  of  Egyptian  supremacy 
in  the  countries  recently  so  severely  visited  by  Seti  I  can 
not  have  been  an  over-difficult  task.  As  usual,  it  seems 
that  the  fortresses  alone  offered  any  resistance,  and  after 
they  had  fallen  the  rest  of  the  country  submitted  peace- 
ably. At  the  close  of  this  campaign  Ramses  erected  a 
stele  on  the  banks  of  the  Naher-el-Kaleb,  north  of  Bey- 
rout.  His  second  campaign,  on  which  he  set  out  in  the 
fifth  year  of  his  reign,  after  careful  preparation,  was 
directed  against  the  Cheta,  the  old  enemies  of  Thutmosis 
III  and  Seti  I. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  rise  of 
this  people.  There  were  two  peoples  named  Cheta,  one  in 
Canaan  and  one  dwelling  between  the  Orontes  and  the 
Euphrates.  The  latter  is  the  people  we  refer  to  here. 
Already  in  the  time  of  Thutmosis  III  they  seem  to  have 
been  an  important  and  influential  nation.  The  Cheta 
were  the  soul  of  the  last  great  coalition  formed  against 
this  pharaoh,  but  in  these  early  times  Egypt  still  proved 
the  master.  After  the  death  of  Amenhotep  III,  the  Egyp- 
tians were  too  much  occupied  with  internal  affairs  to  inter- 
fere in  Syria,  and  in  the  time  between  the  death  of  this 
ruler  and  the  accession  of  Seti  I  falls  the  rise  of  the  Cheta. 
Of  the  combats  in  which  they  gained  this  ascendency  we 
know  nothing ;  but  it  would  seem  that  their  kings  Sapalel 
and  Marusar,  who  preceded  Mautenouer,  the  contem- 
porary of  Seti,  had  succeeded  in  gaining  the  ascenden- 
cy over  all  the  states  of  northern  Syria  (the  Rutenu 
heru  "  Upper  Rutenu "  of  the  Egyptians),  northern 
Mesopotamia,  and  of  that  portion  of  Asia  lying  north  of 
their  domain.  We  do  not,  however,  know  whether  they 
merely  stood  at  the  head  of  a  confederacy  composed  of 
these  states,  or  had  really  conquered  them.  When  Seti  I 
invaded  Asia,  Mautenouer  felt  sufficiently  strong  to  oppose 
him,  and,  though  at  first  defeated,  succeeded  in  checking 
his  advance.  This  success  naturally  increased  the  prestige 
9 


go  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

of  the  Cheta,  and  when  Ramses  II  attacked  them  they 
seem  to  have  been  able  to  call  to  their  aid  all  the  peoples 
of  northern  Syria  .and  northern  Mesopotamia  and  some 
of  the  peoples  of  Asia  Minor.  The  forces  of  this  mighty 
coalition  were  massed  in  front  of  Qadesh,  the  Cheta  capital, 
where  they  awaited  the  Egyptian  advance.  Led  by  treach- 
erous guides,  the  advance  guard  of  the  Egyptian  army, 
which  was  under  the  personal  command  of  the  king,  fell 
into  an  ambuscade  near  Qadesh  and  were  all  but  anni- 
hilated. They  were,  however,  rallied  by  Ramses,  whose 
personal  prowess,  as  he  tells  us,  alone  turned  the  tide  of 
battle ;  and  when  the  rest  of  the  army,  which  had  been 
hastily  summoned,  arrived  on  the  battle-field  they  were  just 
in  time  to  join  in  the  pursuit  of  the  fleeing  foe.  The 
enemy  were  driven  into  the  Orontes  River  (Eg.  Arunta), 
and  suffered  terrible  losses ;  one  of  their  generals,  the 
Prince  of  Chaleb  (Aleppo),  was  almost  drowned.  Again 
and  again  Ramses  reverts  to  this  victory  ;  the  poem  and  the 
representations  commemorative  of  it  he  had  inscribed  on 
the  walls  of  several  temples.  Undoubtedly  it  was  an  act 
of  great  personal  bravery,  and  the  pharaoh  had  a  right  to 
be  proud  of  it ;  but  the  victory  was  fruitless.  Qadesh  was 
not  taken,  and  if  Ramses  says  that  Mautenouer  had  turned 
about  and  adored  him,  this  can  refer  only  to  negotiations 
concerning  an  armistice.  At  all  events,  the  war  went  on 
as  before,  and  evidently  with  wavering  success,  though  we 
hear  but  little  of  its  further  course.  Once  we  find  the 
pharaoh  fighting  far  north,  in  the  region  of  Tunep  in 
Neharen  (Mesopotamia),  but  how  he  came  there  we  do 
not  know.  He  did  not  retain  this  advanced  position  long, 
however,  but  was  driven  back,  for  in  the  eighth  year  of 
his  reign  he  fought  in  Palestine,  taking  the  towns  of  Merom, 
Karpu  in  the  region  of  Bet  Anat,  and  Dapur  in  the 
country  of  the  Amorites.  He  also  took  the  town  of 
Shapur,  and  finally  reconquered  Asqarun  (Asqalon)  which 
had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Egypt.  During  this  war 
Mautenouer  died,  and  Chetasar  succeeded  him.  The 
Cheta  war  was  finally  closed  in  the  twenty-first  year  of 
Ramses's  reign  by  a  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance.  This 
treaty  proves  that  perfect  equality  existed  between  the 
two  nations.  Both  kings  bound  themselves  to  keep  the 
peace  and  be  good  and  faithful  allies.  The  treaty  refers  to 
one  in  force  in  the  times  of  Sapalel  and  Mautenouer,  con- 


THE  NINETEENTH  DYNASTY.  91 

eluded  possibly  with  Seti  I  or  one  of  his  two  predecessors. 
It  expressly  states  the  obligation  of  either  king  to  come  to 
the  assistance  of  the  other  if  so  required.  It  further 
defines  the  obligation  of  either  king  to  return  refugees. 
Thus  was  concluded  the  first  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance 
the  full  text  of  which  has  come  down  to  us.  That  treaties 
had  been  concluded  between  the  kings  of  Egypt  and  the 
Mesopotamian  rulers  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding 
chapter.  To  strengthen  this  treaty  Ramses  married  the 
oldest  daughter  of  Chetasar,  acknowledging  her  as  his 
legitimate  wife  and  queen,  the  princess  adopting  the  Egyp- 
tian name  Mdt-nefru-Rd.  Thirteen  years  later  Cheta- 
sar, accompanied  by  the  Prince  of  Qedi,  paid  his  royal 
son-in-law  a  visit.  The  terms  of  the  treaty  seem  to 
have  been  strictly  kept  by  both  countries,  as  they  were 
weary  of  a  war  that  drained  their  resources  and  brought 
no  result  to  either.  Of  the  boundary  between  the  two 
nations  nothing  is  said  in  the  treaty ;  but  it  would  seem 
probable  that  Egypt  retained  Phoenicia,  Palestine,  and 
southern  Syria,  while  the  Cheta  were  free  to  extend  their 
domain  northward.  The  Cheta  made  good  use  of  their 
opportunities.  All  through  Asia  Minor  and  as  far  north 
as  Smyrna  we  meet  with  monuments  that  were  erected 
by  this  people. 

Ramses  could  not  extend  his  sway  any  further  than 
the  boundaries  of  the  Cheta.  He  now  set  to  work  to  se- 
cure the  conquered  country.  In  all  parts  of  Palestine  and 
southern  Syria  forts  were  erected  and  garrisoned,  and  it 
would  even  seem  that  special  officers  rode  through  the 
land  on  tours  of  inspection.  The  power  of  Egypt  had 
greatly  weakened,  and  she  was  no  longer  what  she  had 
been  three  centuries  earlier.  The  '*  lists  "  of  "  conquered 
lands  "  which  this  pharaoh  had  inscribed  on  the  temple 
walls  are  utterly  unreliable,  being  copied  in  great  part 
from  those  of  Thutmosis  III.  Thus  he  mentions  as  con- 
quered, among  others,  Assur  (Assyria)  and  Sangar  (Chal- 
dea),  countries  with  which  this  pharaoh  had  no  relations 
whatsoever. 

That  a  very  active  commercial  intercourse  between 
Egypt  and  Asia  was  brought  about  by  the  new  relations 
between  Egypt  and  the  Asiatic  nations  is  self-evident. 
Egypt  powerfully  influenced  Asia,  and  was  powerfully  in- 
fluenced in  return.     Syrian  divinities,  Baal  and  Astarte, 


92  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

were  taken  into  the  Egyptian  pantheon.  Set-Sutech,  who 
to  the  Egyptians  represented  the  tutelar  divinity  of  the 
foreigners,  gained  greatly  in  prestige,  owing  to  the  suc- 
cesses of  these  same  foreigners.  But  the  chief  influence 
was  on  the  language.  The  influx  of  Semitic  words  into 
the  Egyptian  at  this  time  is  something  wonderful  to 
behold.  It  must  have  been  considered  elegant  and  a 
proof  of  great  learning  to  larder  one's  writings  with  these 
foreign  words  and  phrases,  for  some  of  the  texts  of  this 
period  teem  with  them. 

The  peace  which  closed  the  Asiatic  war  in  the  twenty- 
first  year  of  Ramses's  reign  left  the  pharaoh  forty-six 
years  to  devote  to  internal  improvements.  The  king  di- 
rected his  attention  chiefly  to  building,  and  there  is  scarce 
a  town  in  all  Egypt  in  which  he  did  not  build,  complete, 
or  restore  temples.  But,  despite  this  great  activity,  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  thoroughly  satisfied  with  his 
work,  for  he  usurped  many  temples  erected  by  his  prede- 
cessors. The  usurpation  of  monuments  was  a  common 
practice  in  ancient  Egypt.  The  usurper  proceeded  in  a 
very  simple  manner.  He  erased  the  name  of  the  real 
builder  and  substituted  his  own  for  it,  thus  making  it  ap- 
pear as  if  the  monument  in  question  owed  its  existence  to 
him.  This  had  been  done  before  Ramses's  time,  but  none 
of  his  predecessors  possessed  the  same  finesse  in  this  class 
of  work.  He  thus  succeeded  in  arrogating  to  himself 
many  temples  that  had  been  built  years,  and  sometimes 
centuries,  before  his  time ;  and  it  is  often  owing  only  to 
the  fact  that  the  men  charged  with  the  work  did  it  very 
slovenly,  and  left  the  name  of  the  real  builder  standing  in 
some  obscure  corner,  that  we  are  enabled  to  discover  the 
imposition, 

Tanis,  a  city  lying  near  the  northeastern  boundary  of 
Egypt,  shared  with  Thebes  the  honor  of  being  the  resi- 
dence of  the  pharaoh.  The  various  departments  of  the 
government  were  located  at  the  latter  city,  but  Tanis  of- 
fered Ramses  unrivaled  facilities  as  a  basis  of  operations 
for  his  Asiatic  campaigns.  A  king  who  spent  so  many 
years  warring  in  Asia  would  naturally  find  it  of  great  ad- 
vantage to  fix  his  residence  at  a  place  so  near  the  frontier. 
Tanis  thus  owes  the  larger  part  of  its  glory  and  prosper- 
ity to  this  pharaoh.  He  it  was  that  built  the  vast  granite 
temple.    As  many  as  fourteen  obelisks  and  several  statues 


THE  NINETEENTH  DYNASTY,  93 

of  the  king  have  been  found  here.  Memphis  also  came 
in  for  a  share  of  the  king's  favor ;  it  was  made  one  of  his 
residences,  and  its  temple  of  Ptah  was  greatly  enlarged. 
But  the  great  city  of  this  reign  was  Thebes,  of  which  we 
may  well  here  give  a  brief  sketch.  This  city,  the  Egyp- 
tian name  of  which  was  Oueset,  was  situated  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Nile,  its  site  being  still  marked  by  the  ruins  of 
the  great  temples  of  Karnak  and  Louqsor,  both  of  which 
were  dedicated  to  Amon-Rd.  Between  these  two  temples 
lay  the  city  proper.  The  temple  of  Karnak  had  its  own 
names;  one  of  these  was  Afiet,  the  other  A^es-taui, 
"  Throne  of  Both  Lands  (i.  e.,  Egypt)."  On  the  west 
bank  of  the  river  lay  the  necropolis,  or  cemetery  of 
Thebes,  in  which  its  kings,  courtiers,  and  citizens  lie 
buried.  The  rulers  of  the  Middle  Empire  were  interred 
in  low  pyramids  built  on  the  plain,  those  of  the  New  Em- 
pire were  interred  in  tombs  hewn  into  the  living  rock  of 
the  hills  that  skirt  the  valley  of  the  Nile  on  the  west. 
The  temples  dedicated  to  the  cult  of  the  pharaohs  of  this 
latter  period  were  built  in  the  valley — thus  a  long  row  of 
funereal  temples  extends  through  this  plain :  the  temple 
of  Der-el-bahari,  built  by  Ma-ka-Ra;  that  of  Ramses  I 
and  Seti  I  at  Qurnah ;  the  Ramesseum,  built  by  Ramses 
II ;  the  temples  of  Thutmosis  III  and  Ramses  III  at 
Medinet  Habu,  and  many  others.  This  district  was  de- 
voted to  the  use  of  the  dead  and  of  those  who  cared  for 
them.  Masons,  carpenters,  embalmers,  and  laborers  of 
every  description  connected  with  wThat  the  French  call 
" les  pomfies  funebres"  had  their  homes  here.  In  this 
necropolis  Ramses,  was  very  busy.  He  first  completed 
the  funereal  temple  at  Qurnah  begun  by  his  father,  and 
then  erected  the  wonderful  Ramesseum — a  temple  dedi- 
cated to  Amon-Ra,  and  commemorative  of  the  pharaoh's 
victories.  On  the  east  bank  of  the  river  he  completed  the 
wonderful  hypostile  of  Karnak  which  his  father  had  be- 
gun, and  otherwise  improved  and  decorated  the  main 
building,  besides  erecting  a  building  south  of  the  pond 
belonging  to  the  temple  inclosure,  and  a  pretty  extensive 
temple  east  of  the  great  temple.  This  pharaoh  was  espe- 
cially partial  to  grotto-temples,  of  which  he  built  quite  a 
number — e.  g.,  at  Bet  Wally,  Geref  Hussein,  Wadi  Se- 
bua,  and  Abusimbel.  The  last-mentioned  temple  was 
the  best  of  this  class.     It  is  the  largest  and  most  beau- 


94  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

tiful  grotto  ever  cut  from  the  living  rock  by  the  hand  of 
man. 

The  classical  authors,  Strabo,  Pliny,  and  others,  ascribe 
to  Sesostris  the  beginning  of  a  canal  connecting  the  Nile 
with  the  Red  Sea,  which  Necho  is  said  to  have  continued 
and  Darius  to  have  completed.  The  canal  from  Cairo  to 
Suez  was  afterwards  again  opened  by  Amru,  the  Moham- 
medan conqueror  of  Egypt,  but,  one  hundred  and  forty 
years  later,  it  was  again  closed  by  order  of  the  caliph 
Abu-Djar-el-Mansur.  In  fact,  there  existed  already  in 
the  times  of  Seti  I  a  canal  which,  starting  from  the  Nile, 
near  Memphis,  ran  through  the  Wadi.  Tumilat  to  Lake 
Timseh,  and  thence  to  the  Red  Sea.  This  canal  is  repre- 
sented for  the  first  time  in  an  inscription  of  Seti  I,  where 
the  return  of  that  conqueror  from  his  Asiatic  campaign 
is  depicted.  It  is  pictured  as  full  of  fishes  and  crocodiles. 
The  canal  bears  the  unassuming  name  of  de?nat  "  canal." 
A  bridge  led  over  it  near  the  Chetem  (fort)  of  Tjar  that 
covered  this  part  of  the  frontier.  When  this  canal  was 
dug  we  can  not  say  to  a  certainty.  It  existed  in  the  time 
of  King  Seti  I,  and  may  have  been  dug  by  him,  but  it  may 
just  as  well  be  considerably  older.  It  was  dug  originally 
either  for  purposes  of  irrigation  or  as  a  defense  against 
the  Asiatic  Bedouins.  We  scarcely  think  that  it  served 
any  commercial  purposes  in  these  early  times.  The 
canal  is  frequently  mentioned  by  foreigners.  Thus,  the  Bi- 
ble mentions  it  as  the  "Brook  of  Egypt"  (Nahal Miz- 
rditri),  Numbers  xxxiv,  5  ;  Joshua  xv,  4 ;  Isaiah  xxvii, 
etc.;  and  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  it  is  called  "the 
brook  {Nahal)  where  there  is  no  river  (Ndru),"  because 
it  was  not  a  natural  but  an  artificial  water-way.  It  is  con- 
sidered by  these  texts  as  the  boundary-line  of  Egypt. 

The  pharaoh  died  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  reign, 
having  previously  appointed  his  fourteenth  son,  Mer-en- 
Ptah,  co-regent.  A  word  about  the  monarch's  family  may 
here  be  in  place.  He  had  several  legitimate  wives  and 
many  concubines.  Consequently  he  could  also  boast  of 
a  large  number  of  children.  One  list  mentions  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two  of  these  by  name— one  hundred  and 
eleven  sons  and  fifty-one  daughters,  The  mummy  of  the 
king  was  found  at  Der-el-bahari.  It  shows  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  beautiful  statue  of  the  king  preserved 
in  the  Museum  of  Turin.     Ramses  must  have  been  in  his 


THE  NINETEENTH  DYNASTY.  95 

younger  days  quite  a  handsome  man,  and  even  in  old  age 
his  features  preserved  a  determined  cast. 

§  5.  Mer-en-Ptah  (1220-1212  B.  C). 

About  1220  B.C.  the  last  great  ruler  of  this  line  as- 
cended the  throne.  His  history  is  not  over-eventful.  The 
empire  was  at  peace  with  the  world.  In  the  south  the 
Egyptians  held  as  much  of  Aethiopia  and  Nubia  as  prac- 
ticable, their  only  object  being  to  control  the  Nubian 
gold-mines  and  to  secure  the  southern  frontier  against  in- 
vasion. In  Asia  the  advance  of  the  Egyptian  arms  had 
received  a  decided  check  at  the  hands  of  the  Cheta,  and 
the  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance  concluded  in  the  twenty- 
first  year  of  the  preceding  reign  had  put  an  end  to  all 
chance  of  war  in  that  quarter.  Canaan,  Palestine,  Phoe- 
nicia, southern  Syria,  and  the  Sinai,  were  secure.  The 
last-named  country  had  been  under  Egyptian  control  for 
several  thousand  years,  and  the  others  were  secured  by 
numerous  forts  established  by  Seti  I,  Ramses  II,  and 
Mer-en-Ptah.  f  With  Pewent  there  never  had  been  war 
and  there  was' no  chance  of  war  now,  as  the  commercial 
relations  between  the  two  countries  continued  profitable 
to  both,  and  would  only  have  been  disturbed  by  a  war. 
There  was  only  one  quarter  from  which  a  war  could 
threaten  and  that  was  Libya.  We  have  seen  that  the 
Libyans  had  frequently  given  trouble  before,  but  that  the 
campaign  of  Seti  I  had  effectually  checked  them  and  had 
put  a  stop  to  their  inroads  for  a  long  while.  After  this 
campaign  we  find  that  many  Libyans  entered  the  service 
of  Seti  I  and  Ramses  II.  It  is  hardly  credible  that  they 
remained  in  the  service  after  Ramses's  wars  were  over. 
In  all  probability  they  returned  home  and  told  their  coun- 
trymen of  the  wealth  of  Egypt  and  of  the  immense  booty 
to  be  won  there.  Returning  from  successful  campaigns 
they  no  doubt  brought  home  what  seemed  to  them  great 
riches,  and  this  aroused  the  greed  of  their  countrymen. 
Ramses  himself  they  dared  not  attack,  but  after  his  death 
they  prepared  to  invade  the  land.  Numerous  Libyan 
tribes  from  the  sea-coast  and  the  interior — the  Lebu,  Qa- 
haqy  Mashawasha,  Akawasha,  Turasha,  Reku,  Shar- 
dana>  and  Shereshka — combined  their  forces  with  those 
of  the  frontier  tribes,  and,  under  the  command  of  King 


96  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

Maroiy  the  son  olDidi,  entered  the  western  Delta  in  the  fifth 
year  of  the  new  reign  and  advanced,  plundering  the  coun- 
try, as  far  as  Per  Bairo  (Byblos,  south  of  Bubastis).  It 
was  their  evident  intention  to  settle  here  and,  if  need  be, 
to  purchase  the  right  to  settle  here  with  their  blood. 
King  Mer-en-Ptah  was  notified  of  this  invasion,  but  he 
hesitated  to  take  active  measures.  At  last  he  got  an 
army  together,  but  was  deterred  from  accompanying  it 
by  a  dream.  Meanwhile  the  enemy  had  advanced  to  Per- 
Aru-Shepses,  a  town  near  Heliopolis,  which  city  their 
forces  now  threatened.  At  this  place  the  Egyptian  army 
met  them,  and  in  the  battle  that  ensued  completely  routed 
and  almost  annihilated  their  forces.  The  Egyptians  then 
plundered  and  burned  down  the  fortified  camp  of  the  ene- 
my. This  victory  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Egyptian  army 
vast  amounts  of  booty  and  a  great  number  of  prisoners. 
Mer-en-Ptah  was  a  great  builder.  On  the  Egypto-Syriac 
frontier  he  erected  two  forts  and  continued  the  work  be- 
gun by  his  predecessors  at  Thebes,  Tanis,  and  other 
places.     He  died  after  a  short  reign  of  only  eight  years. 

§  6.  Close  of  the  Nineteenth  Dynasty  {1211-1180  B.  a). 

Seti  II  (1211-1209  B.  a),  a  son  of  Mer-en-Ptah,  suc- 
ceeded his  father  on  the  throne.  Inscriptions  and  papyri 
of  his  reign  are  constantly  bragging  about  his  great  vic- 
tories, but  not  one  of  these  is  ever  specially  mentioned, 
nor  do  we  know  of  any  campaigns  of  this  king.  Evident- 
ly these  laudatory  hymns  are  mere  pieces  of.  meaningless 
flattery.  He  died  after  a  reign  of  only  two  years.  A 
period  of  anarchy  followed  on  his  death,  during  which 
several  usurpers  succeeded  in  gaining  the  ascendency  for 
a  short  period.  Of  these  monarchs  we  know  only  a  few. 
Amon-meses  and  Sa-Ptah,  Mer-en-Ptah  II,  were  in  later 
times  regarded  as  illegitimate.  Undoubtedly  they  were 
usurpers.  A  Syrian,  Arsu  by  name,  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing himself  king  for  a  short  while,  but  whether  he  came 
to  the  front  as  leader  of  one  of  the  hostile  factions  or 
was  an  invader  we  do  not  know.  At  last  Set- nee ht,  the 
founder  of  Dynasty  XX  and  father  of  Ramses  III,  suc- 
ceeded in  restoring  order  about  1 180  B.  C.  or  perhaps  a 
few  years  earlier. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  NEW  EMPIRE  AND  THE  PERIOD 
OF  DECLINE— DYNASTIES  XX,  XXI,  AND  XXII— 
ABOUT    Il8o-8oO   B.C. 

§  i.   The  Twentieth  Dynasty  and  Close  of  the  New  Em- 
pire (1 180-1050  B.  C.). 

With  this  dynasty  closes  the  period  called  the  "  New 
Empire,"  and  begins  the  period  of  decline.  The  epoch 
known  as  the  New  Empire  had  begun  auspiciously,  and 
for  several  centuries  the  pharaohs  of  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  dynasties  had  succeeded  in  making  and  keep- 
ing Egypt  the  first  power  of  the  then  known  world.  At 
the  close  of  each  dynasty  there  had  occurred  periods  of 
anarchy,  which  were,  however,  of  short  duration,  and  en- 
tailed no  serious  consequences.  The  kings  had,  never- 
theless, made  a  number  of  serious  blunders,  and  the  effects 
of  these  blunders  began  to  show  themselves  in  this  pe- 
riod. The  first  of  these  was  the  great  power  which  had 
been  given  the  priests  of  Amon-Ra.  after  the  suppression 
of  the  reform  movement.  We  have  seen  how  the  booty 
won  in  the  Asiatic  wars  poured  chiefly  into  the  coffers  of 
Amon-Ra.  The  moneys  paid  into  his  treasury  were 
managed  by  the  priesthood — a  fact  that  is  very  significant. 
This  priesthood  was  responsible  apparently  only  to  itself, 
and  consequently  vastly  enriched  itself.  Add  to  the  power 
of  great  wealth  the  control  of  vast  estates  and  conse- 
quently an  immense  patronage,  and  the  enormous  influ- 
ence the  priesthood  generally  has  over  the  masses,  and  you 
can  readily  see  that  sooner  or  later  this  priesthood  must 
become  very  dangerous  to  the  state.  In  this  dynasty 
there  must  be  added  yet  another  factor — the  vast  influ- 
ence the  clergy  gained  over  the  weak  and  incompetent 
kings  that  ruled  after  Ramses  III.     It  is  no  wonder,  then, 


98  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

that  they  should  finally  succeed  in  snatching  the  scepter 
from  the  weak  hands  of  the  last  Ramses.  The  second 
serious  blunder  was  their  Libyan  policy,  which  we  have 
outlined  in  Chapter  VI,  §  3. 

Set-necht  ruled  only  a  very  short  while,  but  he  ap- 
pointed his  son,  Ramses,  co-regent  shortly  before  he  died. 

Ramses  III  (11 80-1 148  B.  C).,  the  Rhampsinitos  of 
the  classical  authors,  ascended  the  throne  about  11 80 
B.  C.  This  pharaoh  anxiously  imitated  Ramses  II,  even 
giving  his  sons  the  same  names  as  those  borne  by  the  sons 
of  his  great  predecessor,  and  appointing  them  to  the  same 
offices  the  latter  had  held.  He  was  not,  however,  the 
equal  of  Ramses  II  in  war,  though  he  almost  excelled 
him  in  braggadocio.  The  "  lists  of  conquered  lands  "  are 
just  as  untrustworthy  as  those  of  Ramses  II,  and  must 
be  entirely  disregarded  in  writing  the  history  of  this  period. 
The  only  authentic  sources  are  the  accounts  of  specific 
campaigns,  and  on  these  alone  is  based  the  following  ac- 
count of  his  wars.  The  early  part  of  this  reign  seems  to 
have  been  taken  up  by  cares  of  state.  The  land  had,  it  is 
true,  been  pacified  by  Set-necht,  but  still  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  state  was  by  no  means  completed  when  Ramses 
came  to  the  throne.  In  one  of  his  edicts  this  pharaoh 
gives  orders  "  To  cleanse  the  temples  of  Upper  Egypt 
of  all  that  the  gods  hate,  to  restore  '  the  truth '  (i.  e.,  the 
orthodox  faith),  and  to  destroy '  the  lie  '  (i.  e.,  heterodoxy)." 
It  was  owing  to  this  unsettled  state  of  the  country  that  he 
could  not  undertake  his  first  campaign,  which  was  an  ex- 
tremely important  and  absolutely  necessary  one  before  his 
fifth  year. 

Meanwhile  matters  looked  bad  in  the  Delta.  Libyan 
hordes,  under  their  princes,  Didi,  Mashaken,  Tamarf 
and  Tjantmar,  had  entered  the  Delta  possibly  during  the 
period  of  anarchy  which  followed  on  the  death  of  Seti  II, 
and  had  penetrated  to  the  main  stream  of  the  Nile.  Here 
they  occupied  the  banks  of  the  river  from  Karbana  to 
Memphis.  In  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign  Ramses  at  last 
had  sufficiently  settled  the  internal  affairs  of  his  kingdom 
to  allow  of  his  turning  his  attention  to  foreign  affairs,  and 
he  accordingly  marched  against  the  Libyans.  After  some 
hard  fighting  he  succeeded  in  driving  them  out  of  the 
country. 

Some  three  years  later  the  pharaoh  was  involved  in  a 


THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  NEW  EMPIRE.        99 

more  serious  war.  The  "  Peoples  of  the  Sea  " — the  Skar- 
dana,  Turusha,  and  Shakarusha,  who  in  all  probability 
dwelt  on  the  north  coast  of  Africa,  and  seem  to  have  been 
great  pirates — united  with  the  Zakkqri,.  Pursta,  Da- 
nauna,  and  Ouashouash,  four  other  seafaring  peoples,  in  a 
grand  raid  on  the  Asiatic  coast.  They  advanced  down 
the  coast  by  land  and  water,  bringing  with  them  their 
women  and  children  and  all  their  possessions  on  carts 
drawn  by  oxen.  All  the  Syrian  people,  the  Cheta,  the 
Qedi,  Karkemtsh,  Aradus,  and  Aresa,  were  subdued,  and 
then  the  mighty  stream  poured  into  Palestine,  which  was 
mercilessly  devastated.  Up  to  this  time  Ramses  had 
been  looking  on,  an  unconcerned  spectator,  rather  re- 
joiced than  otherwise  at  the  downfall  of  Egypt's  old  ene- 
mies ;  but  as  soon  as  Palestine  was  invaded,  matters  as- 
sumed a  different  aspect.  Palestine  was  an  Egyptian 
province,  and  could  not  be  sacrificed.  Accordingly,  in  the 
eighth  year  of  his  reign,  Ramses  proceeded  against  the 
pirates  with  a  large  army  and  a  great  fleet.  The  decisive 
battle  was  fought  on  the  coast  of  Syria,  both  on  land  and 
on  sea,  and  the  enemy  was  utterly  routed  and  almost  an- 
nihilated. Vast  numbers  of  prisoners  were  taken.  The 
people  concerned  in  this  attack  were  all  seafaring.  The 
Shardana,  Turusha,  and  Shakarusha  we  have  met  be- 
fore as  allies  of  the  Libyan  tribes  that  attacked  Egypt  in 
the  times  of  Mer-en-Ptah.  They  dwelt  most  probably  on 
the  north  coast  of  Africa.  That  these  tribes  here  appear 
together  with  tribes  coming  most  probably  from  Greece 
and  Asia  Minor  is  no  argument  against  this,  for  these 
tribes  were  bold  pirates,  ready  to  join  in  any  enterprise  that 
promised  booty.  Though  we  can  state  with  a  considerable 
degree  of  certainty  that  the  other  four  tribes  came  from 
Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  we  can  not  assign  to  each  one  its 
proper  home.  That  Greek  tribes  took  part  in  this  expe- 
dition is  made  extremely  probable  when  we  remember 
that  the  Odyssey  mentions  raids  of  this  character  made 
by  Greek  pirates  on  the  Egyptian  coast.  The  threatened 
invasion  was  thus  happily  averted,  and  the  Egyptian  domi- 
nation over  Palestine,  Phoenicia,  and  southern  Syria  con- 
siderably strengthened.  In  these  countries  the  kings  of 
the  preceding  dynasty  had  erected  and  garrisoned  forts  in 
order  to  keep  the  inhabitants  under  control.  Ramses  III 
went  one  step  further :  he  tried  to  force  the  Egyptian  re- 


ioo  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

ligion — or  rather  the  religion  of  Amon-Ra — on  the  Asiat- 
ics. A  great  temple  was  erected  in  this  region  to  Amon- 
Ra,  to  which,  in  the  language  of  the  official  record,  "  all 
the  peoples  of  Chal  (Syria)  bring  their  tribute."  Incident- 
ally an  expedition  against  the  Shasu  (Bedouins)  of  Seir 
(Edom)  is  mentioned. 

Three  years  after  the  great  victory  over  the  pirates,  the 
king  was  again  compelled  to  march  against  the  Libyans. 
The  Mashawasha,  under  their  chief  Mdshashar,  united 
with  the  Temhu  and  Lebu,  and  invaded  the  western  Delta. 
The  pharaoh  easily  defeated  them  in  a  great  battle  fought 
on  the  frontier ;  large  numbers  of  the  enemy  were  killed, 
numerous  prisoners  were  taken,  and  rich  booty  was  won. 

These  four  wars  seem  to  have  been  all  that  Ramses 
was  engaged  in.  We  see  that  they  were  all  defensive  wars ; 
and  this  is  quite  a  change  from  the  aggressive  policy  pur- 
sued by  the  kings  of  Dynasties  XVIII  and  XIX.  After 
the  close  of  the  second  Libyan  war,  the  kingdom  was  at 
peace  with  the  world.  Aethiopia  and  Nubia  remained 
tranquil.  The  trade  with  Pewent  was  reopened,  a  fleet 
sent  there  returned  laden  with  the  products  of  its  tropical 
coasts,  and  brought  back  with  it  ambassadors  from  the 
various  rulers  of  the  region.  The  copper  and  malachite 
mines  of  the  Sinai  were  operated.  The  land  seemed  to 
have  arrived  at  the  highest  point  of  tranquillity  and  pros- 
perity. 

Thus,  at  least,  the  official  inscriptions  and  Papyrus 
Harris  I,  the  official  record  of  this  reign,  would  have  us 
believe.  In  reality  matters  were  not  so  pleasant.  In  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  pharaoh's  capital,  in  the  necrop- 
olis of  Thebes,  there  was  almost  constant  trouble  with 
the  laborers.  These  men  were  in  the  government  service, 
and  were  to  receive  regular  monthly  rations  ;  but  the  pay- 
ment was  far  from  regular,  and  very  often  they  had  to 
strike  for  them.  Thus  we  know  of  one  gang  of  laborers 
that  struck  for  their  pay  three  times  inside  of  half  a  year, 
in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  this  reign.  On  these  occa- 
sions they  would  leave  the  necropolis  in  a  body  with  their 
wives  and  children,  and  would  not  return  until  their  de- 
mands had  been  acceded  to.  The  first  strike  lasted  five 
days,  and,  at  one  stage  of  the  proceedings,  matters  as- 
sumed so  serious  an  aspect  that  the  military  had  to  be 
called  out.     The  men  finally  received  their  dues  and  re- 


THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  NEW  EMPIRE.       101 

turned  to  work.  On  the  second  strike,  which  occurred  a 
month  later,  the  men  marched  to  the  gates  of  the  city, 
where  the  governor  of  Thebes  met  them,  and  after  some 
discussion  paid  them  half  of  their  dues,  whereupon  they 
returned  to  the  necropolis.  Two  months  later  they 
struck  again,  but  were  soon  pacified.  This  record,  which 
no  doubt  represents  the  experience  of  these  unfortunates 
not  only  during  this  half  a  year,  but  during  the  entire  reign, 
stands  in  strange  contrast  to  the  accounts  given  by  the 
official  documents. 

From  another  source,  too,  we  learn  something  more  of 
the  real  condition  of  affairs.  This  is  a  papyrus  giving  the 
minutes  of  a  criminal  procedure  against  several  members 
of  the  royal  family  and  several  high  civil  and  military 
officers  for  high  treason.  Several  ladies  belonging  to  the 
royal  harem,  headed  by  Queen  Tey,  who  had  a  son  called 
Pentaouer — as  the  minutes  hint,  he  bore  another  name, 
probably  he  was  a  son  of  the  king ; — formed  a  conspiracy 
against  the  pharaoh.  In  all  probability  the  conspiracy 
had  for  ultimate  object  the  placing  of  this  prince  on 
the  throne  after  his  father  had  been  murdered.  Most 
of  the  harem  officials  were  implicated,  the  M  head  over- 
seer of  the  harem  "  even  conducting  the  correspondence 
for  Tey.  The  commander  of  the  troops  stationed  in 
Aethiopia,  whose  sister  was  in  the  royal  harem,  was  won 
over  and  ordered  to  revolt  against  the  pharaoh  and  invade 
Egypt.  Many  other  officials  and  army  officers  were  im- 
plicated. The  conspiracy  was,  however,  betrayed  and 
the  conspirators  were  arrested.  A  special  commission  of 
eleven,  vested  with  extraordinary  powers  and  even  per- 
mitted to  pass  sentence  of  death,  was  appointed  to  try 
this  conspiracy  case.  The  commission  began  its  labors, 
but  soon  it  was  found  that  three  of  its  members  had  been 
corrupted,  having  attended  a  banquet  given  them  by  some 
of  the  accused  ladies.  They  were  tried,  found  guilty,  and 
sentenced  to  have  their  ears  and  noses  cut  off.  After  this 
unpleasant  interlude,  the  commission  succeeded  in  accom- 
plishing its  labors  without  further  interruption.  The  con- 
spirators were  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death,  the 
nobles  being  permitted  to  commit  suicide,  and  the  others 
being  executed. 

In  this  reign  the  power  of  the  priesthood  greatly  in- 
creased. We  have  already  touched  on  the  causes  of  this, 
10 


102  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

but  there  was  no  pharaoh  who  did  more  for  the  priests 
and  their  temples  than  did  Ramses  III.  The  larger  part 
of  the  great  papyrus  Harris  I  is  taken  up  with  lists  of 
presents  given  the  various  temples.  The  temples  of 
Amon-Ra,  of  course,  received  the  lion's  share  of  these 
rich  gifts,  and  attained  to  an  unheard-of  wealth.  Propor- 
tionately with  the  wealth  of  their  temple,  the  wealth  and 
influence  of  the  priests-  increased.  This  was  the  great 
mistake  of  this  reign ;  but  we  must  say  in  palliation  that 
Ramses  was  but  carrying  out  the  policy  of  his  forefathers. 

Ramses  was  a  great  builder.  In  all  parts  of  Egypt 
we  find  his  name  connected  with  the  temples  and  other 
monuments.  His  chief  attention  was  directed  to  Thebes 
and  the  Delta.  At  Thebes  he  made  additions  to  the 
great  temple  of  Amon-Ra,  and  restored  some  of  the 
temples  of  the  necropolis.  Following  the  example  of  his 
great  namesake,  Ramses  II,  he  built  in  the  necropolis  a 
temple  dedicated  to  Amon-Ra,  and  commemorative  of  his 
victories.  Behind  this  temple  were  the  vast  treasury- 
vaults,  in  which  were  stored  up  the  great  masses  of  gold, 
silver,  precious  stones,  copper,  etc.,  dedicated  to  Amonr 
Ra,  and  on  the  walls  are  inscribed  the  records  of  the  im- 
mense wealth  here  deposited.  It  is  probable  that  these 
treasures  represent  the  state  treasury,  placed  under  the 
protection  of  the  god  rather  than  the  presents  made  him. 
Before  the  gates  of  the  temple  stood  a  two-story  house, 
probably  destined  to  be  the  residence  of  the  pharaoh  and 
his  attendants  on  his  visits  to  this  city  of  the  dead.  At 
Tell-el-Yehuda,  in  the  Delta,  he  built  a  temple  of  lime- 
stone, alabaster,  and  granite.  Many  of  the  other  temples 
were  repaired  by  him,  and  it  seems  to  have  required  no 
small  amount  of  labor  to  keep  the  temples  of  Qemet  in 
constant  repair. 

The  king  died  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his  reign, 
shortly  after  having  proclaimed  his  son  Ramses  IV  co- 
regent. 

The  Successors  of  Ramses  III  (i  148-1050 
B.  a). — The  late  king  had  managed  to  keep  Egypt  on 
much  the  same  level  as  it  had  occupied  under  Ramses  II, 
but  under  his  successors  the  prestige  of  the  once  all  but 
almighty  ruler  of  the  world  rapidly  declined.  The  follow- 
ing pharaohs  were  all  weaklings  who  could  scarcely  hold 
their  own  at  home,  and  dared  not  interfere  in  foreign  af- 


THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  NEW  EMPIRE.      103 

fairs.  Under  them  the  priesthood  that  had  been  greatly 
favored  by  Ramses  III  rose  to  a  commanding  position,  and 
the  last  kings  of  this  line  were  mere  puppets  in  the  hands 
of  the  Theban  high  priests.  These  rulers  cover  about  a 
century,  but  of  all  this  time  we  have  but  few  monuments 
of  historic  value,  and  two  of  the  most  important  docu- 
ments we  possess  of  this  time  show  it  in  no  pleasant  light. 
Ramses  I V,  VI,  VII,  and  VIII  were  brothers  ;  Ramses 
F  was  a  usurper.  The  very  fact  that  a  usurper  could 
ascend  the  throne  after  the  son  of  Ramses  III  shows  that 
there  was  something  wrong  somewhere.  It  is  true  that 
we  possess  a  stele  on  which  Ramses  IV  (1 148-1 137  B.  C.) 
mentions  the  fact  that  the  Syrians  (Rutenu)  brought  trib- 
ute ;  but  this  is  not  significant,  for  southern  Syria  had 
been  for  some  time  an  integral  part  of  the  kingdom. 
Ramses  IV  sent  a  great  expedition  to  the  Wadi  Hamma- 
mat  quarries,  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  to  quarry  stone 
for  temples.  He  also  worked  the  Sinai  copper-mines.  Of 
his  buildings  but  little  remains.  He  seems  to  have  been 
a  "  man  of  promise,"  but,  like  most  men  of  his  character, 
he  did  not  keep  his  promises,  and  appears  as  one  of  the 
weakest  monarchs  of  his  line.  He  died,  or  was  dethroned, 
after  a  reign  of  only  eleven  years.  Ramses  V  (1 1 36-1 132 
B.  c),  though  strong  enough  to  wrest  the  crown  from  its 
legitimate  holder,  was  not  able  long  to  retain  the  position 
he  owed  to  himself  alone ;  for  he  reigned  but  four  years. 
In  about  1131  B.  C.  Ramses  VI,  one  of  the  legitimate 
heirs  of  Ramses  III,  succeeded  in  ousting  the  usurper; 
but  he  was  otherwise  of  little  account — we  do  not  even 
know  how  long  he  reigned.  Ramses  VII  and  VIII  were 
alike  unimportant.  Of  the  latter,  wTe  know  only  that  he 
reigned  about  seven  years ;  of  the  former,  we  know  noth- 
ing. Ramses  IX  holds  a  rather  unenviable  prominence 
among  these  rulers.  Two  papyri  have  come  down  to  us 
that  show  how  utterly  weak  and  corrupt  the  government 
of  Egypt  was  in  those  days.  The  first  of  these  contains 
the  minutes  of  a  criminal  procedure  against  a  desperate 
band  of  robbers  that  invested  the  necropolis  of  Thebes, 
dated  from  the  nineteenth  year  of  this  reign.  Some 
knowledge  of  the  robberies  in  the  necropolis  having  come 
to  the  ears  of  the  governor  of  Thebes,  he  immediately, 
with  a  view  to  injuring  his  enemy,  the  governor  of  the 
necropolis,  reported  the  case  to  the  vizier.     This  official 


104  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

appointed  a  commission  to  investigate  the  charges.  This 
commission  made  an  investigation,  and  reported  that  of 
ten  royal  pyramids  examined  only  one  had  been  entered 
and  robbed,  while  all  the  private  tombs  had  been  broken 
into  and  stripped  of  everything  that  had  any  value. 
During  the  investigation  one  of  the  witnesses,  a  fellow 
that  bore  a  desperate  character,  confessed  that  he  had 
robbed  the  tomb  of  one  of  the  wives  of  Ramses  II,  and 
the  investigation  proved  the  truth  of  his  story.  Eight 
robbers  were  tried  and  found  guilty.  Great  was  the  joy 
of  the  commissioners,  who  immediately  made  public  the 
results  of  their  investigation.  The  governor  of  the  city, 
however,  whose  vague  charges  had  in  no  way  been  sub- 
stantiated, was  not  satisfied,  but  openly  declared  the  en- 
tire investigation  a  fraud,  and  threatened  to  bring  the 
matter  before  the  pharaoh.  After  a  judicial  hearing,  the 
matter  was  hushed,  both  sides  evidently  fearing  an  official 
investigation  into  the  conduct  of  their  offices.  There  was 
evidently  a  good  deal  of  crookedness ;  the  governor  of  the 
necropolis  was  undoubtedly  guilty  at  least  of  criminal  neg- 
ligence, and  the  commission  did  their  work  pretty  careless- 
ly, evidently  not  caring  to  expose  their  friend  too  much. 

The  second  of  the  above-mentioned  papyri  is  the  jour- 
nal of  a  gang  of  laborers  employed  in  the  Theban  ne- 
cropolis. We  learn  from  this  document  that  these  men 
were  paid  in  rations  of  fish,  pulse,  grain,  beer,  fat,  and 
fuel ;  but  these  provisions  were  rarely  issued  on  time,  and 
sometimes  were  not  paid  at  all.  In  the  latter  case,  the 
men  struck,  or,  as  the  Egyptian  phrase  goes,  "lay  at 
home."  The  journal  of  this  party  contains  the  record  of 
two  strikes.  The  first  was  peaceable ;  on  the  second, 
they  marched  to  Thebes  in  a  body  and  laid  their  com- 
plaints before  the  authorities.  Their  request  for  pay  was 
granted,  and  they  returned  to  work.  These  strikes  give 
proof  of  the  corruption  that  was  rife  in  the  government. 
The  men's  rations  were  withheld,  not  because  the  state 
could  not  pay,  but  because  the  officials  charged  with  the 
distribution  chose  to  let  the  rations  disappear.  The  pha- 
raoh died  after  a  reign  of  a  little  more  than  eighteen  years, 
shortly  after  proclaiming  his  son  Ramses  X  co-regent. 
The  last  three  kings  of  this  line  are  very  unimportant.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Ramses  X,  sixty  thieves, 
among  them  a  number  of  minor  government  officials  and 


THE  PERIOD   OF  DECLINE.  105 

priests  of  lower  grades,  were  arrested  and  punished  for 
desecrations  and  depredations  committed  in  the  necropo- 
lis. But  even  the  most  stringent  measures  proved  of  no 
avail.  The  great  cemetery  had  grown  so  enormously  that 
the  proper  policing  of  this  district  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion ;  and,  besides,  it  would  seem  that  the  governor  of  the 
necropolis  and  the  chief  of  its  police  had  a  finger  in  the 
pie  and  were  not  over-vigilant.  Ramses  X  ruled  eight 
years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ramses  XI,  of  whom  we 
know  nothing.  Ramses  XII  was  the  last  king  of  this 
house.  Of  him  we  know  little  more  than  that  he  ruled 
about  twenty-seven  years.  In  his  reign  there  lived  a  high- 
priest  of  Amon  and  general  of  the  army,  Herihor,  who 
became  the  successor  of  Ramses.  The  king  was  a  mere 
puppet  in  the  hands  of  the  almighty  high  priest,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Herlhor  finally  seized  the 
crown.  One  of  these  kings,  which  one  we  do  not  know, 
was  the  contemporary  of  the  mighty  Assyrian  king,  Tig- 
lathpilesar  /,  and  sent  him  tribute  about  11 10  B.C. — a 
fact  that  is  characteristic  of  the  weakness  of  these  kings. 

§  2.  The  Twenty-first  Dynasty —  The  Priest-Kings  (iojo- 
pjo  B.  C.). 

We  have  here  again  a  period  that  is  very  obscure. 
There  is  some  disagreement  among  historians  about  the 
order  of  succession  of  the  priest-kings ;  and  the  fact  that 
Manetho  states  that  the  dynasty  originated  from  Tanis 
has  induced  some  scholars  to  assume  that  a  Tanitic  king 
had  deposed  Herfhor,  the  founder  of  the  dynasty.  Such 
an  assumption  we  consider  utterly  unwarranted,  as  it  is  . 
not  consonant  with  the  facts  of  the  case  as  represented  on 
the  monuments.  Herfhor  and  all  his  descendants  were 
high  priests  of  Amon-Ra  in  Thebes,  and  a  long  line  of 
Herfhor's  ancestors  occupied  the  same  position.  We  can 
trace  on  the  monuments  the  gradual  rise  of  the  high 
priests  of  Amon-Ra.  We  find  the  high  priests  Rot, 
Amonarnd,  and  Ramsesnecht  mentioned  together  with 
the  kings  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Karnak — a  dis- 
tinction enjoyed  in  the  older  times  only  by  the  co-regent. 
Under  Ramses  IX  the  power  of  these  priests  seems  to  have 
been  still  greater ;  evidently  the  king  was  a  mere  puppet 
in  the  hands  of  Ramsesnecht's  son  and  successor,  the 


ic6  HISTORY  CF  EGYPT. 

high  priest  Amenhoteft.  This  dignitary  no  longer  inscribed 
his  name  with  the  name  of  the  pharaoh,  but  declares  in. 
the  inscriptions  that  he  erected  this  or  that  building  in  the 
name  of  the  pharaoh,  He  rose  to  the  high  position  of 
manager  of  the  temple  estates,  thus  holding  in  his  hands 
all  the  wealth  and  influence  of  the  great  temples  of 
Amon-Ra. 

Sa-Amon  Herihor  (1050-1034  B.  c.)  took  the 
deciding  step  about  1050  B.  C.  He  had  held  high  offices 
of  trust  and  honor  under  Ramses  XII,  being,  to  mention 
only  his  most  exalted  offices,  high  priest  of  Amon-Ra, 
chief  architect  to  the  pharaoh,  general  of  the  army,  and 
head  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt.  We  see  this  man  thus 
combined  the  highest  religious,  military,  and  civil  offices 
of  the  land,  and  was  virtually  the  ruler.  No  wonder,  then, 
that  on  Ramses's  death  he  pushed  aside  that  king's  legiti- 
mate heir  and  placed  the  double  crown  on  his  own  head. 
It  would  seem,  however,  that  Egypt  gained  but  little  by 
the  change  of  rulers.  The  new  king  could  do  no  more 
than  preserve  the  then  boundaries  of  his  kingdom ;  and 
when  we  read  in  his  inscriptions  that  he  "  repulsed  the 
enemies,"  we  must  take  this  to  refer  to  minor  combats 
with  Bedouins,  who  were  constantly  prowling  about  the 
borders.  This  pharaoh  built  chiefly  in  Karnak,  restoring 
the  temple  of  Chunsu  (the  son  of  Amon-Ra)  and  deco- 
rating its  walls  with  long  religious  inscriptions.  In  one  of 
these  inscriptions  he  had  depicted  his  entire  family,  con- 
sisting of  his  wife,  Queen  Netje?net>  his  nineteen  sons  and 
grandsons,  and  five  daughters. 

The  government  seems  to  have  remained  quite  as  weak 
and  corrupt  as  it  had  been  under  the  last  Ramessides, 
and  no  wonder,  for  Herihor  was  a  descendant  of- the  high 
priests  who  so  long  had  governed  the  land  in  fact,  and  he 
himself  had  actually  ruled  the  country  long  before  he 
seized  the  scepter,  so  that  it  was  but  natural  that  the  old 
state  of  affairs  continued.  Thus  the  old  depredations  in 
the  necropolis,  instead  of  ceasing  or  becoming  less,  be- 
came worse  and  more  desperate  than  ever.  The  police 
of  the  necropolis  were,  it  is  true,  not  quite  efficient,  but 
might  have  kept  the  desperadoes  in  some  check  had  they 
themselves  not  been  implicated.  Accordingly,  Herihor 
bethought  himself  of  some  means  of  protecting  the  mum- 
mies of  his  predecessors.     The  mummies  of  King  Ra- 


THE  PERIOD   OF  DECLINE.  107 

seqenen,  Aahmes  I,  Amenhotep  I,  Thutmosis  I,  Thutmo- 
sis  II,  Thutmosis  III,  Ramses  I,  Seti  I,  and  Ramses  II, 
were  for  a  while  moved  about  from  place  to  place,  and 
finally  were  hid  in  a  shaft  at  Der-el-bahari,  where  they 
could  be  better  guarded.  This  shaft  was  opened  in  1881 
by  Maspero  and  Brugsch-Bey,  and  in  it  were  discovered, 
besides  the  mummies  already  mentioned,  those  of  the 
early  kings  and  queens  of  this  dynasty.  The  mummy  of 
this  pharaoh  was  not  found  here,  either  because  it  never 
was  deposited  here,  or  because,  like  many  other  objects 
found  in  the  shaft,  it  is  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Arabs  who 
discovered  and  to  some  extent  plundered  this  improvised 
tomb  before  the  discovery  was  brought  to  the  attention  of 
the  government.  The  mummy  of  Queen  Netjemet,  cased 
in  a  beautiful  sarcophagus  of  gilt  wood,  was,  however, 
found  here.  Whether  or  not  this  king  is  identical  with 
a  King  Rd-nuter-choper-setep-en-Amon,  Meri-Amon-sa- 
Amon,  whose  name  has  hitherto  been  found  only  in  the 
Delta,  is  one  of  the  vexed  questions  regarding  this  dynas- 
ty. It  may  be  that  Herfhor  used  the  title  of  high-priest 
of  Amon  as  coronation-name  in  Thebes  only,  while  he 
adopted  another  coronation-name  for  use  in  Lower  Egypt ; 
but  such  a  course  would  seem  void  of  sense.  Still,  we 
have  no  cause  to  assume  that  twro  kings,  one  of  Upper 
and  one  of  Lower  Egypt,  ruled  at  the  same  time.  The 
whole  matter  must  be  laid  over  until  further  monuments 
are  discovered  in  proof  of  one  or  the  other  hypothesis. 
Herlhor  ruled  about  sixteen  years. 

Herihor's  Successors  (1033-945  B.  c). — Pinet- 
jem  I,  the  grandson  of  Herlhor,  ascended  the  throne  about 
1033  B.  C.  Pianchi,  the  father  of  this  pharaoh,  had  been 
high  priest  of  Amon-Ra ;  but  he  seems  to  have  died  be- 
fore Herfhor,  so  that  his  right  to  the  throne  passed  to  his 
son.  This  king  had  two  wives,  Queen  Hathor-hent-taut 
and  Queen  Md-ka-Rd,  of  which  latter  lady  an  inscription 
distinctly  says  that  Amon-Ra  had  given  her  the  kingdom. 
It  would  seem  from  this  that  Ma-ka-Ra  was  a  Ramesside 
princess  whom  Herlhor  had  compelled  to  wed  his  grand- 
son in  order  to  legalize  his  usurpation — a  very  common 
measure  of  Egyptian  usurpers.  At  all  events,  it  is  a  very 
curious  fact  that  while  the  names  of  both  queens  are  al- 
ways inclosed  in  cartouches,  that  of  Pinetjem  is  without 
the  cartouche  in  several  inscriptions.     Again,  there  ap- 


108  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

pears  in  a  number  of  inscriptions  the  name  of  a  King 
Cheper-Chd-Rd  Pinetjem,  whose  wife  was  Queen  Hathor- 
hent-taui.  That  Pinetjem,  the  high  priest  of  Amon,  and 
this  king  are  one  and  the  same  person  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  The  mummy  of  Queen  Md-ka-Rd  was,  like  his 
mummy  and  that  of  Hathor-hent-taui,  found  at  D£r-el- 
behari.  At  the  feet  of  Md-ka-Rd  was  found  the  mummy 
of  a  very  young  infant  designated  as  "  the  princess,  the 
wife  of  the  pharaoh,  the  lady  of  Both  Lands,  Mut-em-hat." 
It  would  seem  from  this  that  the  infant  had  been  declared 
the  legitimate  wife  of  its  father  immediately  after  its  birth. 
This  precaution  was  taken  to  preclude  the  chance  that 
any  usurper  could  base  claims  to  the  throne  on  a  mar- 
riage with  this  infant.  The  child  and  its  mother  died, 
however,  long  before  any  such  eventuality  could  arise. 
Pinetjem  reigned  twenty-five  years  (1033- 1008  B.  C).  Rd- 
da-ckeper-setep-en- Anion,  Pasebckanu  I,  the  successor  of 
Pinetjem,  has  left  us  but  few  monuments  ;  but  from  these 
we  see  that  like  his  predecessors  he  was  both  high  priest 
of  Amon-Ra  and  King  of  Egypt.  One  of  his  sons  named 
Pinetjem  was  high  priest  of  Amon-Ra  under  King  Anion- 
em-apet.  Men-cheper-Rd  is  another  priest-king  of  whom 
we  know  nothing.  The  same  is  true  of  King  Amon-em- 
apet.  Pasebckanu  II  has  but  little  significance  beyond 
the  fact  that  his  daughter,  Md-ka-Rd,  became  the  wife  of 
Usarken  I,  the  son  of  Sheshenq  I,  thus  legalizing  the 
usurpation  of  that  monarch.  Pasebchanu  has  also  some 
interest  for  the  biblical  student.  It  was  in  all  probability 
this  king  who  came  into  connection  with  King  Solomon. 
He  gave  Solomon  his  daughter  in  marriage,  and  as  a 
dowry  captured  for  the  Jewish  king  the  city  of  Gaza. 
There  was  instituted  at  this  time  also  a  commercial  inter- 
course between  Egypt  and  Israel,  the  latter  state  facilitat- 
ing the  trade  in  horses  and  wagons  between  the  Egyptians 
and  the  Hethites  and  Aramaens. 

§  3.   The  Twenty-second  Dynasty. —  The  Libyan  Kings 
(945-800  B.  C.). 

The  reader  will  no  doubt  remember  what  was  said  on 
a  former  page  concerning  the  Libyan  wars  of  Seti  I  and 
Ramses  II,  and  concerning  the  ingress  of  Libyan  mercena- 
ries in  these  reigns.     These  mercenaries  were  called  Ma, 


THE  PERIOD   OF  DECLINE.  109 

an  abbreviation  of  the  name  of  the  Mashawasha  tribe,  and 
their  leaders  bore  the  titles  of  Ouer-en-Ma — i.  e.  "  Duke  of 
the  Ma,"  and  Ouer-da-en-Ma,  u  Grand  Duke  of  the  Ma." 
They  seemed  to  have  settled  in  great  numbers  in  the 
western  part  of  the  Delta.  The  family  of  one  of  these 
leaders,  that  lived  in  Bubastis,  rose  to  great  power,  and 
finally  one  of  its  members,  Sheshenq  I,  succeeded  in 
wresting  the  scepter  from  the  weak  hands  of  Paseb- 
chanu  II  the  last  of  the  priest-kings.  The  first  member 
of  this  family  who  migrated  from  Libya  to  Egypt  was  the 
Tehen  (Libyan)  Buiwawa.  He  came  in  about  the  time 
of  Herfhor.  His  son  Mausan  already  had  the  title  of 
**  Grand  Duke  of  the  Ma."  In  this  position  his  son 
Nebnesha  and  his  grandson  Patut  succeeded  him.  Patut's 
son,  Sheshenq,  was  married  to  Princess  Meht-em-ouerety 
and  their  son,  Nemart,  married  Tentespeh.  This  latter 
couple  lived  about  the  time  of  King  Pinetjem.  Their  son 
was  Sheshenq  I,  who  on  the  death  of  Nemart  succeeded 
him  in  the  offices  of  Grand  Duke  of  the  Ma  and  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  army. 

Sheshenq  I  (945-924  B.  d)  (the  Shishaq  of  the 
Bible). — An  inscription  in  Abydos  shows  how  highly  King 
Pasebchanu  esteemed  Sheshenq  and  his  family,  for  it  tells 
us  this  monarch  kept  in  repair  the  tomb  of  the  late  Grand 
Duke  Nemart  and  prayed  to  Amon-Ra  for  the  success  of 
Sheshenq's  arms.  Holding  the  entire  power  of  the 
land,  the  army,  in  his  grasp,  Sheshenq  was  the  real  ruler 
of  Egypt,  and  it  was  not  at  all  unnatural  that  he  at  length, 
about  945  B.  C,  either  deposed  King  Pasebchanu  or  took 
advantage  of  that  king's  death  to  become  king  in  name 
as  well  as  in  fact.  Md-ka-Ra,  the  daughter  of  the  late 
king,  was  compelled  to  marry  the  crown  prince  Usarken, 
so  that  he  might  have  a  legitimate  claim  to  the  throne. 
That  Egypt  gained  by  this  change  of  rulers  is  an  undeni- 
able fact.  Immediately  after  ascending  the  throne,  the 
new  pharaoh  issued  a  stringent  edict  against  all  depreda- 
tions on  the  property  of  the  dead  (the  tombs  and  estates 
set  aside  for  payment  of  sacrificial  offers  were  considered 
the  property  of  the  dead)  by  priests  or  other  persons. 
This  edict  proved  that  he  was  determined  not  to  tolerate 
the  state  of  affairs  that  had  existed  in  the  necropolis 
under  his  predecessors.  The  edict  in  question  prescribes 
the  funereal  sacrifices  for  his  father.     The  king  expressly 


no  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

states  that  he  had  punished  those  priests  that  had  stolen 
from  the  funereal  estate.  This  was  no  doubt  a  warning  to 
all  inclined  to  go  and  do  likewise,  and  seems  to  have,  no 
doubt  backed  by  an  effective  police,  had  the  desired  effect, 
for  we  hear  of  no  further  robberies  in  the  Theban  necropo- 
lis in  this  and  the  following  reigns. 

Early  in  this  reign  Jeroboam  had  fled  to  his  court,  He 
returned  to  Israel  only  after  the  death  of  Solomon,  to  be- 
come king  of  the  ten  tribes.  It  may  be  that  Sheshenq 
assisted  him  to  return  and  gain  the  throne,  as  he  had  mar- 
ried the  pharaoh's  sister-in-law  Ano.  The  most  important 
event  of  Sheshenq's  reign  was  his  Asiatic  campaign.  He 
invaded  Palestine,  and,  after  overrunning  and  plundering 
the  country  and  taking  its  chief  towns,  he  finally  invested 
and  captured  the  city  of  Jerusalem  in  the  fifth  year  of 
King  Rehoboam's  reign.  The  Egyptians  sacked  the  town 
and  carried  off,  among  other  things,  the  treasure  Solomon 
had  deposited  in  the  temple.  The  city  is  designated  as 
Yudha  Melek,  "the  royal  Jewish  city,"*  in  the  Egyptian 
inscription  treating  of  tjiis  raid. 

The  king  appointed  his  son  Aauput  high-priest  of 
Amon-Ra,  the  fattest  office  in  his  gift,  thus  uniting  in  his 
family  the  highest  civil,  military,  and  religious  powers  of 
the  realm.  This  pharaoh  built  chiefly  in  Thebes.  At 
Karnak  he  began  the  so-called  "  Hall  of  the  Bubastides," 
which  was  completed  by  his  successors.  He  died  after  a 
reign  of  about  twenty-one  years,  and  Usarken,  his  son  by 
Queen  Kerdma,  succeeded  him. 

Sheshenq's  Successors. —  Usarken  I  (Osarcon) 
ascended  the  throne  about  923  B.  C.  He  was  an  unim- 
portant ruler.  All  we  know  of  him  is  that  he  continued 
the  work  begun  by  his  father  at  Karnak,  and  that  his 
wife,  Md-ka-Rd,  conveyed  all  her  rights  and  domains  to 
her  family — i.e.,  her  husband  and  his  sons.  In  considera- 
tion of  this,  her  son  Sheshenq  was  proclaimed  co-regent  and 
appointed  governor  of  the  South,  but  he  never  ascended 
the  throne,  having  in  all  probability  died  before  Usarken. 
How  long  this  pharaoh  ruled  we  do  not  know.     On  his 

*  I  may  mention  here  that  Max  Mtiller,  in  a  recent  article,  de- 
clares that  this  interpretation  of  the  name  is  erroneous,  and  reads 
Jad-hamelek,  "  Hand  of  the  King,"  and  would  find  in  it  the  name 
of  a  Jewish  fort.  I  do  not  quite  agree  with  him,  and  would  retain 
the  explanation  given  in  the  text. 


THE  PERIOD   OF  DECLINE.  in 

death,  Takelot  Iy  son  of  Queen  Ta-meh-Chunsu,  ascended 
the  throne.  Of  him  we  know  only  that  he  was  married 
to  Queen  Kaftes,  and  that  his  son  by  this  lady,  Usarkenf 
succeeded  him.  Usarken  II  ruled  twenty-three  years, 
and  built  at  Karnak,  Bubastis,  and  other  places.  The 
following  king,  Takelot  II,  was  a  little  more  important. 
In  his  reign  occurred  two  rebellions,  which  are,  unfortu- 
nately, not  described  in  detail.  In  the  eleventh  year  of  his 
reign  a  rebellion  broke  out,  where  he  does  not  tell  us  in 
his .  inscription,  which  was  subdued.  Four  years  after- 
ward, another  text  states,  "  the  children  of  the  rebels  " 
attacked  Egpyt  from  the  ^iorth  and  from  the  south,  but 
were  repulsed  after  a  long  struggle,  whereupon  they  fell 
into  internal  dissensions.  Unfortunately,  these  texts  do. 
not  inform  us  who  these  "  rebels  "  and  "  children  of  the 
rebels "  were.  Possibly  we  find  in  these  rebellions  the 
beginning  of  the  disintegration  of  Egypt  which  was  com- 
pleted at  the  time  the  Aethiopian  king  Pianchi  invaded 
the  country.  Takelot  seems  to  have  been  strong  enough, 
however,  to  keep  the  land  together.  In  the  course  of  the 
latter  text  there  is  a  notice  that  on  a  certain  date  the  sky 
had  become  unrecognizable  and  the  moon  had  assumed  a 
terrible  aspect.  After  a  reign  of  over  fifteen  years  the 
king  died,  and  his  son  Sheshenq  III  succeeded  him.  This 
pharaoh  was  the  last  of  this  line  whose  name  appears  in  the 
inscriptions  of  Karnak.  It  would  seem  that  either  he  or 
his  next  successor  had  been  driven  out  of  the  capital.  He 
reigned  fifty-two  years.  The  last  kings  of  this  dynasty — 
Pirn  at,  Sheshenq  IV,  and  Usarken  III — were  in  all  prob- 
ability confined  to  the  Delta.  At  the  time  of  Pianchfs 
invasion,  Usarken  III  was  King  of  Bubastis  merely,  or 
perhaps  divided  the  Delta  with  Aanfiet,  King  of  Clysma. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    AETHIOPIANS    AND    ASSYRIANS    IN    EGYPT— DY- 
NASTIES  XXIII,   XXIV,   AND   XXV— 80O-645    B-  c- 

§  I.  Dynasty  XXIII — The  Disintegration  of  Egypt,  and 
the  First  Aethiopian  Invasion, 

Already  under  Sheshenq  III  Thebes  seems  to  have 
been  lost  to  the  Libyan  dynasty.  The  last  monument  that 
mentions  any  king  of  the  twenty-second  dynasty  in  Karnak 
is  dated  from  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  Sheshenq's  reign  ; 
and  after  the  loss  of  Thebes  these  kings  were  confined  to 
the  Delta.  Four  "  kings  "  are  mentioned  in  the  inscrip- 
tion of  King  Pianchi,  but  we  know  little  of  any  one  of 
them.  They  are  Usarhen  of  Bitbastis,  probably  the  same 
man  as  Usarken  III,  the  last  of  the  Bubastides,  Aaupet 
of  Clysrna,  Nemart  of  Chmunu  (Hermopolis),  and  Pef- 
dedbast  of  Chenensnten  (Heracleopolis).  Manetho  states 
that  Pefdedbast,  whom  he  calls  Petubastis,  reigned  forty 
years.  A  notice  preserved  by  Ammian,  to  the  effect  that 
in  his  time  the  Phoenicians  had  suddenlv  attacked  and 
taken  Thebes,  is  probably  a  faint  recollection  of  the 
Aethiopian  invasion.  At  all  events,  the  inscription  of 
Pianchi,  which  mentions  besides  these  four  "kings  "  six- 
teen rulers  of  smaller  districts,  amply  proves  that  Egypt 
was  at  this  time  completely  disintegrated. 

The  Rise  of  Aethiopia. — We  have  seen  that  for 
many  centuries  Aethiopia  was  an  Egyptian  province,  but 
it  would  seem  that  at  the  close  of  the  twenty-first  dynasty 
it  gradually  emancipated  itself  from  Egypt.  In  the  times 
of  the  twenty-second  dynasty  Aethiopia  was  no  longer  un- 
der Egyptian  rule.  Several  historians  have  attempted  to 
bring  into  connection  the  fall  of  the  twenty-first  dynasty 
and  the  establishment  of  the  Aethiopian  kingdom,  by  as- 
suming that  the  heirs  of  Pasebchanu  had  fled  before  She- 


AETHIOPIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS  IN  EGYPT.   113 

shenq  I  to  that  country  early  in  the  tenth  century  before 
the  common  era,  and  had  founded  a  theocratic  govern- 
ment there.  This  hypothesis  is  in  some  measure  con- 
firmed by  the  name  of  the  first  Aethiopian  invader  of 
Egypt,  Pianchi,  a  name  that  occurs  also  in  the  times  of 
the  priest-kings.  There  is  not,  however,  sufficient  proof 
to  assert  this  as  an  established  fact.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
we  find  that,  about  the  time  of  the  twenty-second  dynasty, 
Aethiopia  had  become  an  independent  kingdom.  The 
capital  was  Napata,  at  the  foot  of  the  Gebel  Barkal,  where 
Amenhotep  III  had  erected  a  temple  to  Amon-Ra.  The 
centuries  of  dependence  had  firmly  established  Egyptian 
civilization  in  Aethiopia.  The  religion  was  that  of  Amon- 
Ra,  though  it  was  carried  out  to  consequences  unknown 
in  Egypt.  The  priests  had  an  almost  absolute  power. 
In  the  name  of  Amon  the  kings  went  out  on  their  wars  ; 
they  were  entirely  dependent  on  his  prophecies  and  oracles 
as  interpreted  by  the  priests ;  they  strictly  observed  the 
laws  regarding  cleanliness  and  all  the  minute  details  of 
the  ritual.  Thus  they  put  into  practice  what  had  been 
mere  theory  in  Egypt.  A  long  inscription  relates  how 
the  king  was  chosen  directly  through  an  oracle  of  Amon- 
Ra,  thus  confirming  the  account  given  by  Diodorus.  The 
priests  had,  moreover,  the  right  to  command  the  king,  in 
the  name  of  Amon,  to  commit  suicide,  a  pernicious  prac- 
tice that  Ergamenes  in  the  third  century  B.  C.  put  a  stop  to. 
It  is,  then,  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Egyptian  priests 
described  Aethiopia  to  the  Greek  tourists  as  a  promised 
land.  The  titulature  of  the  kings  was  modeled  after  that 
of  the  pharaohs.  The  official  language  of  the  realm  was 
the  Egyptian,  with  some  dialectic  peculiarities  ;  the  script 
in  the  older  inscriptions  is  hieroglyphic.  Gradually  the 
language  changed  more  and  more,  becoming  surcharged 
with  Aethiopian  elements,  and  at  last  it  has  changed  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  be  completely  unintelligible.  The 
script  also  changed  with  time  ;  a  cursive  form  known  as 
the  "  Meroitic-Demotic  script  "  arose,  which  no  one  has  yet 
succeeded  in  deciphering.  In  this  script  most  of  the 
Aethiopic  inscriptions  are  written,  and  it  is  only  after  this 
has  been  deciphered  that  we  can  give  a  clear  picture  of 
the  history  of  the  new  Aethiopian  kingdom.  Early  in  the 
eighth  century  B.  C.  the  new  kingdom  was  strong  enough 
to  attack  Egypt. 


H4  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT.  ■ 

The  disintegration  of  Egypt  offered  the  then  Aethio- 
pian  ruler,  Pianchi,  a  fine  opportunity  of  subduing  the 
country  that  had  so  long  held  his  native  land  in  subjuga- 
tion. He  invaded  Egypt,  and  seems  to  have  found  but 
little  resistance.  The  inscription  which  treats  of  his  Egyp- 
tian campaign  enumerates  the  twenty  sovereigns  who  at 
that  time  ruled  Egypt : 

i.  Usarken,  King  of  Per  Bastet  (Bubastis),  in  the 
Delta. 

2.  Aaupet,  King  of  Tenremu  (Clysma),  in  the  Delta. 

3.  Nemart,  King  of  Chmunu  (Hermopolis  magna- 
Ashumnein),  in  Upper  Egypt. 

4.  Pefdedbast,  King  of  Chenensuten  (Heracleopolis 
magna  Ahnes),  in  Upper  Egypt. 

5.  Tefnacht,  Prince  of  Sa  (Sais)  and  Mennefer  (Mem- 
phis). 

6.  Sheshenq,  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Per-  Uszri  (Bu- 
siris),  in  the  Delta. 

7.  Tjed-A?non-aufdneky  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Per- 
ba-neb-ded  (Mendes),  in  the  Delta. 

8.  Anch-Hor,  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Per-  Tkot-up- 
ro-heh  (Hermopolis). 

9.  Bek-en-nef,  Hereditary  Prince. 

10.  Nesnaketi,  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  the  city  of 
Kaset  (Chois),  in  the  Delta. 

11.  Pedubast,  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Het-heri-ab 
(Athribis),  in  the  Delta. 

12.  Patenf,  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Per-Sopd,  capital 
of  the  twentieth  Lower  Egyptian  nome. 

13.  Pa?na,  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Pas-as-rek  (?)  (Bu- 
siris). 

14.  Necht-Hor-nashenu,  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Per- 
Cher-Rer  (?)  (Phagroriopolis). 

15.  Pa-du-Hor-sam-taui,  Priest  of  Horus  in  Sechem 
(Setopolis). 

16.  Herobusa,  Prince  of  Saiut  (Siut)  and  Hesauz. 

17.  Tjet-Chian,  Prince  of  the  City  of  Chentfiefer. 

18.  Pabas,  Prince  of  Cherchau  (Babylon)  and  Per- 
Hdpi  (Nilopolis). 

19.  A  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Tanis. 

20.  A  Chief  of  Mercenaries  in  Ostracine. 

These  "  kings  "  and  princes  seem  to  have  offered  but 
little  or  no  resistance  to  the  Aethiopian  invader,  and  to  have 


AETHIOPIANSAND  ASSYRIANS  IN  EGYPT.  115 

remained  tranquil  under  his  control  for  some  time.  But 
the  spirit  of  liberty  was  not  dead  in  the  land  of  Qemet. 
In  the  twenty-first  year  of  Pianchi's  reign,  an  attempt  was 
made  by  Tefnacht,  Prince  of  Sais  and  Memphis,  who  was 
by  far  the  mightiest  of  these  petty  sovereigns,  to  deliver 
Egypt  from  the  Aethiopian  domination.  He  succeeded  in 
uniting  the  many  petty  rulers  of  Lower  and  Middle  Egypt 
under  his  leadership.  Then  he  sailed  up  the  Nile,  and 
everywhere  the  cities  opened  their  gates  to  him.  At 
Chenensnten  he  met  with  the  first  resistance.  King  Pef- 
dedbast  seemed  determined  to  maintain  his  separate  sov- 
ereignty under  Pianchi's  protection.  The  city  was  besieged 
and  taken,  but  Pefdedbast  joined  the  alliance  in  only  a  half- 
hearted manner.  The  allies  now  proceeded  south,  and  at 
Chmunu  were  joined  by  King  Nemart,  who  became  one 
of  the  most  useful  members  of  the  coalition.  They  then 
went  against  Thebes.  Matters  were  now  becoming  seri- 
ous, and  Pianchi,  on  hearing  of  what  was  going  on,  ordered 
Pouarma  and  Rd-rner-sekniy  his  lord-lieutenants  in  Upper 
Egypt  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  rebellion.  They  im- 
mediately took  active  measures,  and  began  the  siege  of 
Chmunu.  To  aid  in  their  operations  the  Aethiopian  king 
had  sent  an  army  north.  As  they  approached  Thebes  on 
their  fleet,  they  encountered  Tefnacht's  fleet.  A  battle 
ensued,  in  which  the  Egyptians  were  defeated.  Leaving 
JRd~iner~sekm'  and  Potiarma  to  take  Chmunu,  the  Aethio- 
pians  pursued  the  fleeing  Egyptians  northward.  The 
Egyptians  made  a  stand  at  Chenensuten,  which  city  was 
the  key  of  the  Fayoum.  Here  two  battles  occurred  on 
succeeding  days.  The  first  was  fought  on  the  Nile — 
possibly  the  Egyptians  sought  to  prevent  the  enemy  from 
landing — the  second  was  fought  on  the  river-bank  at  Per- 
fiek,  a  town  near  Chenensuten.  In  both  these  battles  the 
patriots  were  defeated  with  heavy  loss.  Meanwhile 
Chmunu  had  fallen,  and  Nemart,  hearing  of  this,  deter- 
mined to  retake  his  capital.  Marching  rapidly  south,  he 
laid  siege  to  the  town,  and,  after  defeating  several  sallies 
made  by  the  Aethiopian  garrison,  recaptured  it. 

Thus  matters  stood  when  Pianchi  determined  to  come 
north  and  conduct  the  campaign  in  person.  Before  he 
started,  however,  his  troops  had  gained  some  further  ad- 
vantages, taking  several  smaller  fortresses,  of  which  the 
most  important  was  Tatehen.    This  strong  fort  was  taken 


n6  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT, 

by  storm  after  a  most  determined  resistance ;  among  the 
slain  was  one  of  Tefnacht's  sons.  Finally,  the  king  came. 
After  celebrating  a  religious  festival  at  Thebes  he  marched 
against  Chmunu.  A  regular  siege  was  commenced;  a 
high  wall  was  built  around  the  town  and  a  shower  of 
arrows  and  stones  was  thrown  into  the  city.  Three  days 
the  town  held  out ;  but  finally  Nemart  was  compelled  to 
surrender  and  pay  tribute.  Pefdedbast,  of  Chenensuten, 
now  came  up  the  stream  and  paid  homage  to  Pianchi, 
bringing  him  costly  presents.  His  ready  submission  proved 
that  he  had  joined  Tefnacht  much  against  his  will,  and  in- 
clined the  king  to  be  gracious.  Pianchi  now  sailed  down- 
stream to  Per -  Sechem-cheper-  Rd  (Illahun),  a  strong 
fortress  in  the^orthern  part  of  the  Fayoum,  which  was 
surrendered  on  the  first  summons.  Just  north  of  this  lay 
the  stronghold  of  Meri-Tum  (Meydoum),  which  seemed 
inclined  to  hold  out.  A  peremptory  summons,  leaving 
the  city  the  choice  between  immediate  surrender  and  a 
massacre  of  its  garrison  in  case  of  a  storm,  however, 
brought  the  commandant  to  terms.  At  the  northern 
boundary  of  Upper  Egypt  there  was  a  strongly  fortified 
city  which  was  also  surrendered  x>n  Pianchi's  approach. 
This  left  the  way  open  to  Memphis.  The  city  was  very 
strongly  fortified  ;  Tefnacht  had  laid  in  it  a  garrison  of  eight 
thousand  men,  and  then  gone  north,  probably  to  collect 
re-enforcements.  The  Aethiopian  monarch  hesitated  about 
storming  the  sacred  city,  and  summoned  it  to  surrender, 
offering  to  enter  the  city  peaceably,  as  his  only  desire  in 
coming  to  Memphis  was  to  pay  his  homage  to  the  gods. 
But  Memphis  was  the  key  of  the  Delta,  and  the  garrison 
was  determined  to  hold  out  ;  besides,  Tefnacht's  re-en- 
forcements could  be  expected  daily.  The  king,  therefore, 
ordered  his  soldiers  to  storm  the  town.  They  effected  a 
landing  in  the  harbor  of  Memphis,  and,  scaling  the  walls, 
were  soon  masters  of  the  city.  Many  of  the  garrison 
and  of  the  citizens  fell  in  the  combat,  and  many  others 
were  carried  off  as  prisoners  of  war.  The  city  was  plun- 
dered, but  the  temples  were  spared,  a  guard  having  been 
set  over  them.  Pianchi  remained  in  Memphis  several 
days,  partly  to  take  part  in  several  religious  festivals  and 
partly  to  receive  the  tribute  of  several  princes  and  grand 
dukes  of  the  Ma  that  came  here  to  offer  their  submission. 
He  next  advanced  to  An-Heh'opolis,  where  he  attended 


AETHIOPIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS  IN  EGYPT.  117 

some  other  religious  festivals  and  received  the  submission 
of  a  number  of  other  princes,  among  them  Usarken,  King 
of  Bubastis.  Then  he  went  to  Hat-heri-ab  (Athribis), 
where  he  received  the  submission  of  the  remaining  re- 
bellious princes,  except  Tefnacht.  This  leader,  deserted 
by  all  his  allies,  determined  to  make  a  last  stand  for  free- 
dom. Razing  the  walls  and  burning  down  the  treasury 
building  of  Sais,  he  retired  to  the  island  city  of  Mesd  in  the 
Nile,  and  strongly  intrenched  himself.  Prince  Pefdubast, 
of  Athribis,  was  sent  against  him  with  a  strong  detach- 
ment. A  battle  ensued,  in  which  Tefnacht  was  defeated 
and  his  army  annihilated.  Tefnacht  now  sent  messengers 
to  Pianchi,  offering  to  surrender.  The  king  sent  him  two 
ambassadors,  in  whose  presence  he  swore  the  oath  of 
allegiance.  Two  cities  that  had  hitherto  held  out  now 
also  surrendered — the  rebellion  was  crushed.  After  hold- 
ing a  grand  reception  of  the  princes,  Pianchi  returned 
home,  his  ships  laden  down  with  the  tribute  and  booty 
won  in  the  war. 

Pianchi  reigned  in  all  forty  years,  but  he  had  no  further 
occasion  to  interfere  in  Egypt.  This  was  owing  to  his 
wise  policy.  He  left  all  of  the  old  princes  in  possession 
of  their  lands,  and  thus  bound  them  to  his  person  as  they 
owed  their  sovereignty  to  his  grace.  Moreover,  a  disunited 
Egypt  was  no  menace  to. him,  and  the  bickerings  among 
the  various  petty  kings  could  at  any  time  furnish  him  a 
pretext  for  invading  the  country.  That  he  was  determined 
to  prevent  the  union  of  these  princes  was  proved  by  the 
great  campaign  against  Tefnacht  and  his  allies.  He  had 
no  idea  of  holding  the  country,  but  retired  after  having 
effectually  checked  Tefnacht's  attempt  to  unite  the  various 
petty  states  into  a  great  kingdom. 

§  2.  The  Twenty  fourth  Dynasty — Saitic  (b.  C.  734-728). 

Bekenrenf,  the  only  king  of  this  dynasty,  seems  to 
have  succeeded  in  doing  what  Tefnacht  had  attempted 
over  nineteen  years  before.  According  to  Diodorus,  who 
calls  him  Bokchoris,  he  was  the  son  of  Tnefachthos,  who 
is  no  doubt  identical  with  Tefnacht.  For  about  six  years 
he  ruled  undisturbed  by  the  Aethiopians.  All  we  know 
of  him  from  the  monuments  is,  that  he  buried  an  Apis  at 
Memphis  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign. 


n8  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

.  In  Aethiopia  Kashta  had  succeeded  Pianchi.  This 
monarch  was  married  to  Shep-en-apet,  a  daughter  of 
King-  Usarken,  of  Bubastis.  Their  son,  Shabaka,  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  immediately  determined  to  conquer 
Egypt.  He  could  lay  a  certain  claim  to  the  Egyptian 
throne,  as  his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  last  Bubastide 
King.  Invading  the  country,  he  defeated  Bekenrenf — 
Manetho  states,  that  he  burned  him  alive — and  compelled 
the  various  petty  kings  to  acknowledge  his  sovereignty. 

§3.   The  Twenty-fifth  Dynasty — Aethiopians — The  As- 
syrian  Invasions  (72S-643  B.  a). 

Shabaka  (the  Sabdkon  of  the  Greeks,  SS  of  the  Bible, 
and  Shade'  of  the  Assyrians,  728-726  B.  c),  Herodotus 
relates  that  Sabakon,  the  Aethiopian,  had  conquered 
Egypt,  and  had  left  it  after  a  reign  of  fifty  years,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  dream.  Diodorus  comes  nearer  the  truth 
when  he  states  that  four  Aethiopian  kings  ruled  Egypt  for 
thirty-six  years. 

Shabaka  took  the  title  of  King  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt,  but  appointed  his  sister,  Amenerdas,  who  was 
married  to  a  man  named  Pianchi,  regent  of  the  country. 
The  Greek  authors  praise  this  ruler  highly.  He  is  reputed 
to  have  abolished  capital  punishment,  substituting  hard 
labor  for  it.  This  pharaoh  became  mixed  up  in  Asiatic 
affairs.  King  Hosea,  of  Israel,  had  joined  other  Syrian 
monarchs  in  a  rebellion  against  Salmanassar  IV,  King  of 
Assyria,  and  the  allies  had  sent  to  Shabaka,  asking  his 
assistance.  The  plot  was  discovered,  Hosea  was  called  to 
Assyria  and  thrown  into  prison.  Salmanassar  invested 
Samaria  about  725  B.  c,  but  died  before  the  city  fell. 
His  successor,  Sharrukinu  (Sargon)  II,  continued  the 
siege,  and  took  the  city  in  722  B.  C.  Shortly  after  a  new 
coalition  was  formed,  at  the  head  of  which  stood  King 
Ilubid,  of  Hamath.  This  coalition  embraced,  besides 
Hamath,  Arpad,  Simyra,  Damascus,  Gaza,  and  Egypt. 
Sargon  was,  however,  too  quick  for  the  allies.  Before 
Shabaka  could  join  them,  Sargon  met  and  routed  their 
forces  at  Karkar.  He  now  moved  southward,  and  met 
Shabaka,  who  had  meanwhile  been  joined  by  King 
Hanno,  of  Gaza,  at  Raphia.  The  allies  were  badly  de- 
feated, and  Hanno  was  taken  prisoner  (720  B.  a).     Sar- 


MAP  OF 

The  Assyrio-Aetkiopic 
Wars  in  Asia, 

AND  NEKAU'S  CAMPAIGN. 

.SCALE  OF  MILES 

50  100 


AETHIOPIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS  IN  EGYPT.  119 

gon  could  not  follow  up  his  victory  and  invade  Egypt,  as 
events  had  meanwhile  occurred  in  the  north  which  called 
him  to  the  new  seat  of  war ;  but  he  had  gained  his  pur- 
pose. Shabaka  was  badly  crippled,  and  even  sent  trib- 
ute.    This  pharaoh  died  about  716  B.  c. 

Shabataka  (715-703  b.  a),  the  successor  of  Sha- 
baka, is  a  king  of  whom  we  do  not  know  much.  Despite 
the  fact  that  he  reigned  twelve  years,  he  seems  to  have 
done  little.  In  Asia  he  did  not  interfere.  Probably  the 
defeat  of  Shabaka  at  Raphia  had  been  so  complete  as 
either  to  cripple  Egypt  for  years,  or  at  least  to  discourage 
her  rulers  from  attacking  Assyria  again. 

Taharqa  (702-662  B.  a). — This  king  was  in  all 
probability  not  of  royal  parentage,  but  came  to  the  throne 
by  marrying  Shabataka's  widow.  He  was  twenty  years 
of  age  when  he  ascended  the  throne.  Young  and  active, 
he  was  willing  to  restore  to  Egypt  its  former  prestige. 
Meanwhile  Sargon  had  been  assassinated,  and  his  son, 
Sin-ahi-erib  (Sanherib),  had  ascended  the  Assyrian 
throne  (705  B.  C).  Immediately  a  new  coalition  was 
formed  against  Assyria.  Elulaeus  of  Tyre,  Hezekiah  of 
Judah,  and  Zidkah  of  Asqalon,  formed  a  league  and  called 
upon  Taharqa  for  assistance.  Mardukballadin,  the 
Chaldean  ruler  of  Babylon,  was  also  drawn  into  the 
league  and  conducted  negotiations  with  Hezekiah.  King 
Pddz\  of  Akkaron,  who  had  refused  to  join  the  rebels, 
was  deposed  and  turned  over  to  Hezekiah.  This  mighty 
coalition  if  properly  handled  would  have  been  a  match  for 
the  Assyrians  ;  but  Sanherib  was  too  quick  for  them.  In 
701  B.  C.  he  entered  Syria  and  subdued  Elulaeus,  then 
going  south  he  took  Asqalon  and  Akkaron.  At  Altaqu 
he  met  and  defeated  Taharqa,  who  had  attempted  to 
check  him.  After  taking  Altaqu  and  some  other  towns, 
Sanherib  marched  on  Jerusalem.  Hezekiah  submitted, 
and  Padi  was  restored  to  his  kingdom.  The  rebellion 
was  not,  however,  crushed  as  yet.  Hezekiah  continued 
his  negotiations  with  Taharqa,  who  had  returned  to  Egypt 
to  collect  a  new  army.  Sanherib.  hearing  of  this,  accused 
the  Jewish  king  of  treason  and  threatened  him  with  de- 
struction. Relying  on  Jehovah  and  the  King  of  Egypt, 
Hezekiah  boldly  held  out.  Jerusalem  was  besieged. 
Meanwhile  Taharqa  was  coming  to  the  aid  of  his  ally 
with  a  new  army.     Sanherib  advanced  to  meet  him,  but 


120  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

his  army  was  so  reduced  by  pestilence  that  he  had  to  re- 
tire without  giving  battle.  The  story  of  the  Bible  is  "well 
known.  The  angel  of  the  Lord  smote  the  Assyrian  army 
in  the  night  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand 
men  died,  whereupon  Sanherib  had  to  retire.  Herodotus 
has  a  somewhat  different  version  of  the  affair.  He  relates 
that  after  the  Aethiopian  Sabakon,  a  pious  priest  of  Ptah 
named  Sethos  ruled  in  Egypt.  He  denied  his  soldiers 
certain  privileges  and  thus  gained  their  enmity.  When 
Sanacherib,  "king  of  the  Arabians  and  Assyrians," 
marched  against  Egypt,  they  refused  to  fight,  and  Sethos 
was  placed  in  a  sad  predicament.  He  prayed  to  the  gods 
for  aid,  and  they  sent  out  mice  that  ate  up  the  bows  and 
belts  of  the  Assyrian  army  encamped  about  Pelusium 
during  the  night,  so  that  the  Egyptian  merchants  and 
mechanics  could  easily  defeat  them  next  day. 

The  First  Assyrian  Invasion. — Sanherib  never 
returned  to  Palestine.  He  was  assassinated  in  681  B.  C, 
and  his  son,  Assarhaddon  {Ashur-ah-iddiri),  ascended 
the  throne.  Trouble  between  him  and  Taharqa  began  in 
672  B.  C,  when  King  Ba'al,  of  Tyre,  relying  on  promises 
of  assistance  from  Taharqa,  rebelled  against  Assyria. 
Assarhaddon  now  determined  to  put  an  end  to  Egyptian 
interference.  A  detachment  of  his  army  besieged  Tyre, 
while  the  main  body  marched  against  Egypt,  The  prince 
of  the  Bedouins  dwelling  on  the  Egyptian  border  gladly 
furnished  camels  and  water,  and  thus  the  difficult  march 
from  Raphia  to  Pelusium  was  accomplished  without  seri- 
ous loss.  Taharqa  seems  to  have  offered  but  little  re- 
sistance, for  the  Assyrian  army  entered  Memphis,  and 
soon  after  Thebes  also  was  taken  and  sacked.  Taharqa 
fled  to  Aethiopia.  After  these  victories  Assarhaddon  styled 
himself  "  King  of  Musur  (Lower  Egypt),  Patrus  (Upper 
Egypt),  and  Kush  (Aethiopia).  The  land  itself  was  left 
under  the  control  of  twenty  independent  petty  sovereigns, 
as  follows  : 

1.  Niku-11  (Nekau),  of  Mt-im-pi  (Memphis),  and  Sa- 
ai  (Sais). 

2.  Sharru-la-da-ri,  of  Zi-i'nu. 

3.  Pi-sa-an-hn-u,  of  Na-at-hu  (Natho). 

4.  Pa-ak-ru-ru,  of  Pi-shap-tu  (Per-Sopd,  the  capital 
of  the  Nomos  Arabia,  the  twentieth  Lower  Egyptian 
nome). 


AETHIOPIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS  IN  EGYPT.  121 

5.  Pu-uk-na-an-nz'-pz  (Bekennef),  of  Ha-at-hz-rz-bi 
(Hatheriab  Athribis). 

6.  Na-ah-kz-z,  of  Chi-nen-shi  (Chenensuten). 

7.  Pit-tu-bis-ti  (Pedubast),  of  Za-a'-nu  (Tanis). 

8.  U-na-mu-nu,  of  Na-at-hu. 

9.  Hor-sz-ja~z-shu,  of  Tam-mu-u-tz  (Tjeb-nuter  Seb- 
benythos). 

10.  Pu-u-a-a-ma  (Pimai),  of  Bz-zn-dz-dz  (Per-ba-neb- 
ded=Mendes). 

11.  Su-zz-z'n-ku  (Sheshenq),  of  Pu-si-ri  (Per-Usiri 
Busiris). 

12.  Tap-na-ach-ti  (Tefnacht),  of  Pu-nn-bu  (Per-nub). 

1 3.  Pit-uk-ku-na-an-ni-i'-pi,  of  Ah-nz. 

14.  Ip-tz-har-dz-z-shu,  of  Pi-sa-at-tz-hu-ru-un-pi. 

15.  Na-ah-ti-hu-ru-an-zi-ni  (Necht-Hor-na  -  shenu), 
of  Pz-shab-dz-nu-tz. 

16.  Bn-kur-nz-nz-zp,  of  Pa-ah-nu-ti. 

17.  Zi-ha-a,  of  Zi-ja-u-tu  (Suit). 

18.  La-mi-in-tu,  of  Hi-mu-ni  (Chinunu). 

19.  Ish-pi-ma-a-tu,  of  Ta-a-a-ni  (Teni  This). 

20.  Ma-an-ti-pi-  an  -  chi  {Mentu  -  em  -  hat)  of  A7"/' 
(Thebes). 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  identify  those  of  the  Assyrian 
names  of  Egyptian  princes  and  cities,  the  Egyptian  names 
of  which  we  have  not  given.  The  mightiest  of  these 
princes  was  Nekau  (Assyrian  Niku-u,  Greek  Necho), 
Prince  of  Memphis  and  Sais  (according  to  Manetho,  671- 
663  B.  a).  He  was  the  favorite  of  Assarhaddon.  At  this 
monarch's  request  Nekau  changed,  the  name  of  Sais  to 
Kar-Bel-Matdtiy  "Garden  of  the  Lord  of  Lands,"  and 
gave  his  son  Psemtek  the  Assyrian  name  Nabu-ashezib- 
an-ni.  Shortly  after  the  conquest  of  Egypt  Assarhaddon 
resigned  the  crown  in  favor  of  his  son  Assurbanipal ^  (about 
668  b.  a). 

The  Second  Assyrian  Invasion.— This  change 
in  the  rulers  of  Assyria  encouraged  Taharqa  to  attempt 
the  delivery  of  Egypt  from  Assyrian  rule.  He  advanced 
on  Thebes  (Assyr.  Nt*)  and  Mentnemhat  (Assyr.  Mantz- 
pzanchz)  received  him  with  open  arms,  hailing  him  as  a 
deliverer.  Memphis  was  taken  soon  after,  and  the  Aethi- 
opian  proceeded  to  make  himself  at  home  in  Egypt. 
When  Assurbanipal  heard  of  this,  he  at  once  determined 
to  punish  the  Aethiopians.     He  advanced  to  Karbana,  a 


122  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

town  north  of  Memphis,  where  he  met  and  utterly  routed 
Taharqa's  forces.  The  king  himself,  who  had  remained 
at  Memphis,  on  hearing  of  this  defeat,  at  once  fled  to 
Thebes,  which  city  he  abandoned  on  the  approach  of  the 
Assyrian  army  without  a  battle  (about  667  B.  a).  Mean- 
while the  Egyptian  princes,  under  the  leadership  of  Nekau 
of  Sais,  Sharladari  of  Tanis,  and  Pakruru  of  Per-Sopd  had 
opened  negotiations  with  Taharqa,  inviting  him  to  renew 
his  attack,  and  promising  their  support.  Their  letters 
were,  however,  intercepted,  and  the  conspirators  were  ar- 
rested. Proof  against  them  was  not.  wanting,  but  the  As- 
syrian king  evidently  thought  it  wise  policy  not  to  punish 
them.  They  were  left  in  possession  of  their  holdings,  but 
had  to  swear  allegiance  to  Assurbanipal.  Nekau,  the 
favorite  of  his  father,  was  sent  home  loaded  down  with 
presents,  and  his  son  Nabu-ushezib-an-ni  was  appointed 
governor-general  of  Egypt.  Assurbanipal  hoped  to  gain 
a  powerful  ally  in  this  manner,  and  he  was  not  disap- 
pointed. 

In  the  Greek  accounts  Taharqa  figures  as  a  great  hero 
and  conqueror.  Strabo  relates  that  he  reached  the  Col- 
umns of  Hercules  (the  westernmost  point  of  northern 
Africa)  on  one  of  his  campaigns,  and,  according  to  Megos- 
thenes,  he  led  his  army  to  India  and  thence  to  the  Pontus 
and  Thrace.  In  his  inscriptions  he  poses  as  a  mighty 
conqueror;  fourteen  negro  tribes  are  mentioned  as  sub- 
dued in  Aethiopia.  The  list  of  conquered  nations  he  had 
inscribed  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Karnak,  is  copied 
word  for  word,  from  that  of  Ramses  II,  and  even  men- 
tions, among  other  states,  Assur,  while  we  know  he  was 
several  times  whipped  by  the  Assyrians.  At  Gebel  Bar- 
kal  he  built  two  temples,  and  at  Karnak  he  repaired  por- 
tions of  the  great  temple  of  Amon-Ra  and  of  the  temple 
of  Mut.     He  died  about  664  B.  c. 

Tanuat-Amon  and  the  Third  Assyrian  In- 
vasion.— The  step-son  of  Taharqa  ascended  the  Aethi- 
opian  throne  about  664  B.  C.  An  inscription  found  at  the 
Gebel  Barkal  relates  that  this  king  had  been  encouraged, 
by  a  dream  that  promised  him  the  crown  of  Egypt,  to  in- 
vade that  country.  Elephantine  and  Thebes  hailed  him 
as  a  deliverer;  Memphis  resisted,  but  was  taken  after  a 
battle.  It  is  very  probable  that  Nekau,  Prince  of  Mem- 
phis and  Sais,  who  died  about  this  time  (664  B.  a),  fell  in 


AETHIOPIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS  IN  EGYPT.  123 

one  of  the  battles  with  Tanuat-Amon.  While  he  was  at 
Memphis  a  deputation  of  Egyptian  princes,  headed  by 
Pakruru  of  Per-Sopd,  offered  their  submission.  The 
others  withdrew  to  their  fortresses  and  refused  to  yield. 
Tanuat-Amon  evidently  did  not  feel  strong  enough  to  at- 
tack them,  and  preferred  to  return  to  Memphis,  where  he 
had  long  theological  arguments  with  those  princes  who 
submitted.  When  Assurbanipal  heard  of  this  new  Aethi- 
opian  invasion  by  Urdamdni  (as  the  Assyrian  inscriptions 
call  Tanuat-Amon),  he  sent  an  army  against  him.  The 
Aethiopians  immediately  withdrew  before  the  approach  of 
the  Assyrians,  and  fled  to  Aethiopia.  Thus,  about  662 
B.  c,  was  driven  from  Egypt  the  last  Aethiopian  king  who 
dared  invade  the  country. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE    EGYPTIAN    RENAISSANCE— DYNASTY    XXVI    (645- 

525  B.  a). 
§  I.  Psemtek  I  {645-610  B.  C). 

We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter  how  the  house 
of  Sais  gradually  rose  in  importance.  The  first  ati — as 
the  Egyptians  called  the  petty  sovereigns  of  the  preceding 
epoch — of  this  line  that  succeeded  in  gaining  supreme 
power,  even  though  for  a  short  time  only,  was  Tefnacht, 
the  contemporary  of  Usarken  III,  King  of  Bubastis,  and 
the  great  opponent  of  Pianchi.  How  his  attempt  at  uni- 
fying Egypt  failed  we  have  already  seen.  A  descendant 
of  his  was  the  Bekenrenf,  who  ruled  at  least  in  Lower 
Egypt  for  six  years  (734-728  B.  C).  The  next  prince  we 
know  is  Nekau,  the  favorite  of  Assarhaddon  and  Assur- 
banipal.  As  predecessors  of  this  Nekau,  Manetho  men- 
tions Stephanites  (ruled  seven  years)  and  Nechepsos  (ruled 
six  years),  the  Egyptian  names  of  which  princes  are  un- 
known. This  Nekau  seems  to  have  come  to  his  death  about 
the  time  Tanuat- Amon  invaded  Egypt  (664  B.  C).  Nekau 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Psemtek,  the  Psametichos  of  the 
Greeks,  who  was  given  the  name  of  Nabu-ushezib-anni  at 
Assurbanipal's  request.  Psemtek  seems  to  have  been  a 
faithful  ally  of  Assyria  for  quite  some  while,  but  he  merely 
waited  a  chance  to  gain  his  independence,  He  entered  into 
friendly  relations  with  Tanuat-Amon,  marrying  one  of  his 
relatives — the  Aethiopian  princess  Shep-en-apet,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Queen  Amonerdas,  As  Amonerdas  had  been  Queen 
of  Egypt,  Psemtek  thus  acquired  a  claim  to  the  throne. 
At  length  the  right  moment  came,  about  645  b.  c.  Aided 
by  mercenaries  sent  him  by  King  Gyges,  of  Lydia,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  making  himself  independent  from  Assyria.  It 
is  evident  that  he  succeeded  in  this  only  after  a  struggle, 


THE  EGYPTIAN  RENAISSANCE.  125 

but  we  have  no  record  of  his  combats  with  Assyria.  His 
next  enemies  were  in  Egypt  itself.  Though  he  was  un- 
doubtedly the  rightful  sovereign  of  the  country,  yet  the 
many  petty  rulers  that  divided  the  country  among  them- 
selves did  not  submit  without  a  struggle.  Psemtek,  how- 
ever, succeeded  in  gaining  the  ascendency  and  uniting 
Egypt  under  his  scepter.  Psemtek  made  Sais  his  capital. 
This  made  Neit>  the  great  goddess  of  Sais,  the  official 
head  of  the  national  pantheon,  and  deposed  Amon-Ra, 
who  had  held  this  position,  with  some  interruptions,  for 
about  fifteen  hundred  years.  Memphis,  the  oldest  capital 
of  Egypt,  and  part  of  Psemtek's  original  principality,  was 
also  highly  favored,  and  many  of  the  government  offices 
were  located  there.  Thebes  was  falling  into  decay ;  the 
Assyrian  wars  had  dealt  the  city  a  blow  from  which  it 
never  recovered.  True,  Psemtek  and  some  of  his  suc- 
cessors built  here  and  repaired  the  great  temple  of  Amon, 
but  the  city  never  again  rose  into  prominence.  Of  the 
city  of  Sais  there  remains  to-day  scarce  a  trace ;  the  cli- 
mate and  soil  of  the  Delta  are  not  favorable  to  the  pres- 
ervation of  ruins,  and  after  the  city  had  once  fallen  into 
decay  all  traces  of  it  rapidly  disappeared. 

Mindful  of  the  great  debt  he  owed  the  Greek  merce- 
naries, Psemtek  little  by  little  increased  them.  By  this 
action  he  incensed  the  native  mercenaries,  who  had  hith- 
erto ruled  supreme  in  Egypt.  According  to  Herodotus, 
two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  men  of  the  warriors  "who 
stood  on  the  left  of  the  king  "  emigrated  to  Aethiopia  in 
this  reign  because  they  had  not  been  relieved  in  their  gar- 
risons for  three  years.  This  story  is  assuredly  untrue,  but 
it  reflects  the  fact  that  the  native  troops  were  highly  dis- 
satisfied, and  were  no  particular  friends  of  Psemtek's. 

The  stories  that  the  Greek  authors  tell  us  of  his  scien- 
tific experiments  to  ascertain  which  people  was  the  oldest 
of  the  world,  and  those  that  they  relate  of  his  efforts  to 
find  the  source  of  the  Nile,  are  all  alike  untrue  and  legend- 
ary. The  remark  of  Strabo  that  he  was  one  of  the  great- 
est conquerors  of  the  world  is  also  false.  The  king  was 
too  much  occupied  with  internal  affairs  to  go  in  search  of 
foreign  conquest.  The  real  fact  of  the  matter  is,  that 
Psemtek  was  confined  to  Egypt  proper.  On  the  western 
frontier  he  fortified  Marea  as  a  defense  against  Libya ; 
on  the  Asiatic  frontier  he  erected  the  strong  fortress  of 


126  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

Daphnae  near  Pelusium,  and  on  the  Aethiopic  frontier  the 
town  of  Souen  (Assuan,  Syene)  was  strongly  fortified. 
The  fact  that  the  three  frontiers  were  thus  put  in  a  state 
of  defense  proves  that  the  king  did  not  make  any  con- 
quests. Herodotus  relates  that  he  conquered  Asdod 
after  a  siege  of  twenty-nine  years,  but  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  this. 

The  policy  of  this  king  and  of  all  his  successors  was 
to  gain  the  friendship  of  the  Greeks.  He  gave  lands 
along  the  banks  of  the  Pelusian  branch  of  the  Nile,  near 
Bubastis,  to  the  Ionians  and  Carians,  and,  in  order  that 
they  might  come  into  communication  with  his  subjects,  he 
gave  them  Egyptian  boys  whom  they  should  teach  Greek 
and  who  were  to  serve  as  interpreters.  The  Milesians 
soon  after  entered  the  Bolbitic  arm  of  the  Nile  and  settled 
a  fortified  camp,  which  was  called  the  Milesian  camp.  Tyr- 
ian  merchants  settled  possibly  about  the  same  time  in 
Memphis,  and  gave  their  name  to  the  Tyrian  quarter  of 
this  city.  The  king  died  about  610  B.  c,  having  been 
Prince  of  Sais  and  Memphis  from  664  B.  c,  and  king  from 
645  B.  C.  on. 

§  2.  Nekau  {Greek  Necho  and  Nechao)— {610-594  B.  C). 

Nekau  successfully  continued  the  policy  of  his  father. 
Herodotus  relates  that  he  began  the  construction  of  a 
canal  which  was  to  connect  the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea, 
and  that,  after  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  laborers 
had  perished,  Nekau  suddenly  stopped  the  work,  having 
been  warned  by  an  oracle  that  he  was  working  for  the 
barbarians.  This  story  is  very  improbable.  A  canal 
connecting  the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea  existed  already  in 
the  times  of  Seti  I  and  Ramses  II,  about  seven  hundred 
years  before  this  time.  This  canal  was  mentioned  in  the 
Assyrian  inscriptions  of  the  eighth  century  B.  C,  and  it  is 
scarcely  possible  that  it  could  have  disappeared  entirely  in 
less  than  a  century.  Nekau  possibly  cleared  it  of  sand 
and  widened  it.  The  story  of  the  enormous  number  of 
laborers  who  perished  during  the  progress  of  the  work 
and  that  of  the  oracle  are  both  utterly  false. 

Herodotus  relates  a  story  of  a  great  maritime  enter- 
prise undertaken  at  this  time  which  seems  quite  credible. 
He  states  that  Nekau  sent  out  Phoenician  ships  from  the 


THE  EGYPTIAN  RENAISSANCE.  127 

Red  Sea  to  circumnavigate  Africa,  and  that  in  the  third 
year  of  their  journey  they  returned  to  the  Mediterranean 
through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  The  very  fact  that 
Herodotus  questions — namely,  that  in  circumnavigating 
"  Libya  "  (i.  e.,  Africa)  they  had  the  sun  on  their  right 
hand — proves  that  they  really  did  accomplish  their  task. 
The  same  historian  relates  that  Nekau  kept  fleets  of 
triremes  in  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Red  Sea. 

Nekau  felt  himself  strong  enough  to  attempt  the  res- 
toration of  Egyptian  supremacy  in  Asia.  Great  changes 
had  meanwhile  taken  place  on  this  continent.  Assurbani- 
pal  died  the  king  of  a  great  empire,  but  his  successors 
were  not  able  to  hold  their  own.  About  608  B.  C,  Nabo- 
pallassar,  whom  Assurbanipal  had  appointed  Viceroy  of 
Babylon,  threw  off  the  Assyrian  yoke  and  founded  an  in- 
dependent Babylonian  kingdom.  Intent  on  crushing  out 
the  Assyrian  kingdom,  he  allied  himself  with  King  Kyax- 
ares,  of  Media,  and  together  they  attacked  and  com- 
pletely annihilated  the  Assyrian  kingdom.  The  Medes 
kept  all  the  land  east  and  north  of  the  Tigris,  the  Baby- 
lonians Mesopotamia  and  Syria.  Nekau  thought  the  time 
had  now  come  to  intervene  in  Asia.  Accordingly,  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  608  B.  c,  he  invaded  the  continent.^ 
He  encountered  no  resistance  until  he  reached  Megiddo. 
Here,  at  the  very  spot  where,  almost  a  thousand  years  be- 
fore, Thutmosis  III  had  defeated  the  Syrian  coalition, 
King  Josia,  of  Judah,  had  drawn  up  his  army  ready  to 
dispute  Nekau 's  advance.  The  pharaoh,  not  wishing  to 
lose  time  in  subduing  the  petty  sovereigns  of  Syria  and 
Palestine,  haughtily  ordered  the  Jewish  king  to  give  way. 
Josia  refused,  and  was  arranging  his  army  for  the  coming 
battle,  when  he  was  fatally  wounded  by  an  arrow.  The 
king  was  brought  back  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  died  and 
was  buried  amid  the  wailings  of  his  people,  over  whom  he 
had  ruled  for  thirty-nine  years.  Nekau  continued  his 
march  to  Ribla,  near  Hamath,  where  he  went  into  camp. 
Meanwhile  the  Jews  had  elected  Joachas,  the  son  of  Josia, 
king,  but  Nekau  was  dissatisfied  with  their  choice  and 
deposed  him,  giving  the  kingdom  to  his  older  brother 
Jojaqim,  and  levying  a  heavy  contribution  on  the  land. 
Excepting  Judea,  Gaza  was  the  only  state  that  offered 
any  resistance  to  the  Egyptians.  Up  to  the  year  604  B.  C. 
Nekau  seems  to  have  had  his  own  way  in  Asia,  but  in 


128  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

that  year  Nabopallassar  was  ready  to  meet  him.  He 
himself  was  old  and  sick  ;  so  he  sent  his  son  Nebuchadnez- 
zar (Bab.,  Nabu-kudurri-uzzur)  against  the  Egyptians. 
At  Karkemish,  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  the  two 
armies  met,  and  Nekau  was  utterly  routed.  His  army 
must  have  been  completely  annihilated,  for  he  left  Syria 
to  the  victor,  without  daring  to  oppose  him  again.  Nebu- 
chadnezzar probably  had  the  intention  of  invading  Egypt, 
but  the  death  of  his  father  compelled  him  to  return  to 
Babylon.  Nekau  did  not  dare  to  interfere  in  Asia  again. 
Time  and  again  the  Jews  begged  him  for  assistance  in 
their  repeated  revolts  against  the  Babylonians.  At  last 
Jerusalem  fell,  about  596  B.  C,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
free  to  invade  Egypt ;  but  it  seems  that  he  was  called  to 
other  parts  of  his  kingdom,  and  the  threatened  invasion 
did  not  come  until  much  later.  Nekau  died  in  594  B.  C, 
and  was  buried,  like  his  father,  in  Sais. 

§  3.  Psemtek  II  (jp^-jSp  B.  c). 

The  only  historical  event  of  this  short  reign  was  an 
invasion  of  Aethiopia.  Both  Herodotus  and  Aristeas 
mention  it,  and  an  Egyptian  inscription  confirms  their 
report.  Late  in  this  reign  General  Nes-Hor  was  sent 
against  the  Aethiopians,  and  the  war  was  finally  brought 
to  a  close  early  in  the  following  reign.  It  may  be  that 
the  trouble  with  Aethiopia  had  begun  already  in  Nekau's 
time,  and  this  would  account  for  his  otherwise  incom- 
prehensible policy  with  regard  to  the  Jewish  rebellions. 
The grafiti  left  on  the  colossi  of  Abu-Simbel  by  the  Phoe- 
nician and  Greek  mercenaries  that  marched  with  the 
Egyptian  army  on  this  campaign,  still  further  confirm  the 
report  of  Psemtek's  war  in  this  quarter.  Despite  his  short 
reign  of  only  six  years,  this  pharaoh  was  an  active  builder, 
restoring  and  repairing  temples  in  all  parts  of  Egypt,  from 
the  Delta  to  Nubia. 

§  4.  Ouahabra  {Greek  Aftrzes,  jSp-j>64  B.  a). 

Early  in  this  reign  Nes-Hor  brought  to  a  successful 
conclusion  the  Aethiopian  war  begun  in  the  reign  of 
Psemtek  II.  Ouahabra  thought  matters  in  Asia  favored 
an  intervention  on  his  part.     In  Judea  important  changes 


THE  EGYPTIAN  RENAISSANCE.  129 

had  taken  place  in  the  times  of  his  predecessors.  Jojaqim, 
the  king  whom  Nekau  had  appointed,  was  deposed  in  597 
B.  C,  after  a  reign  of  eleven  years,  and  Jojachim,  his  son, 
put  in  his  place  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  Soon  after  he  also 
was  deposed,  and  Zedekiah  put  in  his  place.  Zedekiah 
(596-586  B.  C.)  was  not  the  man  the  Babylonian  king  had 
thought  him.  He  determined,  despite  the  warnings  of  the 
prophets,  to  win  the  independence  of  his  kingdom.  Oua- 
habra now  came  to  his  aid  and  began  a  war  with  Tyre. 
Sidon  was  taken,  and  a  Cypriote  fleet  that  opposed  him 
was  utterly  defeated.  Although  thus  far  successful,  the 
pharaoh  withdrew  soon  after,  on  the  approach  of  the 
Babylonians.  Meanwhile  Zedekiah  had  begun  the  war, 
but  Jerusalem  was  soon  invested,  and,  after  a  spirited  re- 
sistance, was  taken  (July,  587  B.  C),  while  Ouahabra  did 
nothing  to  assist  his  sorely  beset  ally.  Zedekiah  was  de- 
posed and  blinded,  and  Gedalia  was  set  on  the  throne. 
He  was  assassinated  by  a  descendant  of  the  family  of 
Ishmael,  who  was  soon  after  compelled  to  fly  the  country. 
He  and  his  friends  went  to  Egypt,  where  Ouahabra  re- 
ceived them  kindly. 

Soon  after  Ouahabra  began  a  war  which  promised 
better  results.  A  war  had  broken  out  between  the  Greek 
city  of  Cyrene,  which  lay  on  the  northern  coast  of  Africa, 
west  of  Egypt,  and  the  Libyans.  The  Libyan  king  Adz- 
kram  placed  himself  under  the  protectorate  of  Egypt,  and 
an  Egyptian  army  was  immediately  sent  out  to  aid  him. 
At  the  town  of  Irsa,  on  the  well  of  Thestis,  a  battle  en- 
sued, in  which  the  Egyptian  army  was  annihilated.  This 
account,  taken  from  Herodotus,  is  probably  correct,  but 
the  rest  of  his  account  is  certainly  false.  He  relates  that 
the  Egyptians  were  furious  over  the  defeat,  and  declared 
that  Apries  had  sent  out  the  native  troops  in  order  to 
have  them  annihilated,  so  that  his  rule  over  the  rest  of  the 
Egyptians  might  be  the  more  secure.  This  is  entirely 
unnatural.  In  Egypt  the  pharaoh  was  an  absolute  ruler ; 
he  was  considered  as  the  son  of  the  god  Ra.  and  the  in- 
carnation of  the  god  Horus,  and  it  would  not  have  been 
at  all  necessary  for  him  to  destroy  the  national  troops  in 
order  to  strengthen  his  rule.  The  troops,  according  to 
Herodotus,  also  murmured,  and  the  king  sent  an  officer 
named  Amasis  (Egyptian,  Aahmes)  to  quiet  them.  While 
he  was  addressing  them,  a  soldier,  stepping  behind  him, 


130  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

placed  a  helmet  on  his  head  and  proclaimed  him  king*. 
The  rest  of  the  army  shouted  their  assent,  and  Amasis, 
gladly  accepting  the  election,  placed  himself  at  their  head 
and  marched  against  the  pharaoh.  A  messenger  sent  by 
Apries  was  sent  back  with  a  sarcastic  reply.  Apries  now 
prepared  for  battle,  and,  collecting  his  Greek  mercenaries 
to  the  number  of  thirty  thousand,  marched  against  his 
rival.  At  Momemphis,  on  the  Canopic  branch  of  the 
Nile,  the  armies  met,  and  Apries  was,  after  a  well-con- 
tested battle,  defeated,  captured,  and  brought  to  Mem- 
phis, where  he  was  kept  in  prison  for  a  while,  but  was 
finally  delivered  up  to  the  angry  populace  and  strangled* 
This  story  is  utterly  false  from  beginning  to  end,  as  are 
also  the  many  anecdotes  the  Greek  writers  tell  of  Amasis. 

We  know,  however,  that  Ouahabra,  about  six  years 
before  his  death,  appointed  Aahmes  II  co-regent.  Aahmes 
was  wedded  to  Anchnes-nefer-ab-Ra>  a  daughter  of  Psem- 
tek  II,  and  to  Nezt-aqert,  a  sister  of  Ouahabra.  These 
facts  completely  refute  the  Greek  legends.  Why  Aahmes 
was  appointed  co-regent  we  can  not  say ;  possibly  the  king 
had  no  male  issue,  and  wished  to  keep  the  succession  in 
the  family. 

In  the  time  of  their  joint  reign  fell  Nebuchadnezzar's 
invasion.  This  campaign  was  undertaken,  according  to 
the  Babylonian  inscriptions,  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of 
Nebuchadnezzar's  reign — i.  e.,  in  567  B.  C.  The  Babyloni- 
ans found  little  or  no  resistance,  and  easily  succeeded  in 
overrunning  and  plundering  the  whole  land  as  far  as  As- 
suan,  and  then  retired  either  voluntarily  or  after  having 
been  defeated  by  Nes-Hor.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  Baby- 
lonians never  again  entered  Egypt.  Ouahabra  died  in 
564  B.  C,  after  having  ruled  twenty-five  years  in  all,  nine- 
teen alone  and  six  in  conjunction  with  his  brother-in-law 
and  successor.  < 

§  5.  Aahmes  II  (Amasis,  564-526  B.  C.). 

This  pharaoh  came  into  still  closer  connection  with  the 
Greeks  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  The  many  anec- 
dotes the  Greek  authors  tell  of  his  private  life  and  family 
relations  are  all  untrustworthy,  as  are  also  the  reports 
that  Pythagoras,  Solon,  and  Thales  visited  Egypt  in  his 
reign.     Solon  is  even  said  to  have  copied  from  Amasis* 


THE  EGYPTIAN  RENAISSANCE.  131 

laws  one  of  the  laws  he  promulgated  at  Athens  in  594 
B.  C,  a  statement  that  is  of  course  absurd.  Further,  this 
king-  is  said  to  have  entered  into  friendly  relations  with 
Cleobulus,  Bias,  and  Pittacus,  and  to  have  foreseen  the 
downfall  of  Polycrates.  All  of  these  stories,  which  are, 
by  the  by,  chronologically  impossible,  have  a  direct  tend- 
ency, namely,  to  prove  that  all  of  the  knowledge  and 
philosophy  of  Greece  was  derived  from  Egypt.  Amasis 
being  the  king  best  known  to  the  Greeks,  they  placed  the 
Egyptian  voyages  of  their  sages  in  his  reign.  We  have 
already  alluded  to  these  traditions  in  the  introduction. 

More  credible  are  the  accounts  the  Greek  writers  give 
us  of  his  wars.  He  fought  against  the  Arabians  (i.  e.,  the 
Asiatics),  and,  in  order  to  increase  the  valor  of  his  troops, 
he  had  the  statues  of  the  chief  divinities  set  up  behind 
their  ranks,  so  that  the  troops  believed  the  gods  them- 
selves were  observing  them.  He  next  sent  out  a  fleet 
against  Cyprus  that  succeeded  in  subduing  the  Cypriote 
cities,  which  remained  Egyptian  dependencies  for  some 
time  thereafter.  This  expedition  was  most  probably  un- 
dertaken as  part  of  Egypt's  work  in  the  great  coalition 
which  had  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  checking,  if 
possible,  the  rise  of  the  new  Persian  monarchy.  This 
coalition  was  joined  by  Egypt,  Lydia,  Babylon,  and  Sparta. 
The  object  was  to  attack  Persia  from  three  sides  at  once, 
and,  had  the  allies  acted  in  concert,  and  not  wasted  valu- 
able time  over  their  preparations,  they  might  have  crushed 
Cyrus.  As  it  was,  Croesus  moved  before  the  others  were 
ready,  and  all  the  help  he  could  get  from  his  allies  con- 
sisted in  a  detachment  of  troops  sent  him  by  Aahmes.  In 
the  spring  of  546  B.  C.  he  entered  Cappadocia,  devastated 
the  country,  and  captured  the  strong  fortress  of  Pteria. 
Now  was  the  time  for  Aahmes  and  Nabunaid,  King  of 
Babylon,  to  act ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  con- 
centrate their  forces  and  to  co-operate  properly.  Cyrus 
first  .moved  against  Croesus,  and  soon  had  conquered 
Lydia,  taken  its  capital,  and  made  the  king  a  prisoner 
(fall  of  546  B.  a).  A  Persian  fleet  sent  against  Cyprus 
easily  succeeded  in  dislodging  the  Egyptian  garrisons. 
Aahmes  now,  instead  of  coming  to  the  aid  of  his  ally, 
Nabunaid,  remained  inactive  while  the  Persians  conquered 
Babylon  and  took  possession  of  Palestine  and  Syria  as  far 
as  the  Egyptian  frontier.     The  pharaoh  evidently  hoped 


132  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

to  pacify  Cyrus  by  this  inactivity ;  but  he  had  gone  just 
one  step  too  far,  and  had  incurred  the  determined  enmity 
of  the  Persians.  That  the  invasion  of  Egypt  did  not  fol- 
low immediately  on  the  occupation  of  Palestine  was  owing 
to  complications  that  had  arisen  on  the  eastern  frontier. 
In  the  wars  fought  here  Cyrus  lost  his  life ;  but  his  suc- 
cessor, Cambyses,  soon  punished  Egypt  for  its  share  in 
the  coalition  against  Persia. 

Aahmes  thought  it  to  his  advantage  to  interfere  in  Cy- 
renae.  Here  King  Arkesilaus  had  been  assassinated  by 
Learchus,  who  had  ascended  the  throne,  and,  supported 
by  Egyptian  mercenaries,  had  instituted  a  most  tyrannical 
rule.  His  misrule  did  not  last  long.  He  was  assassinated 
at  the  instigation  of  Polyarchus  and  his  sister  Eryxo,  who 
placed  Battus,  the  son  of  Arkesilaus,  on  the  throne.  The 
Egyptian  mercenaries  now  called  on  Aahmes  for  aid,  and 
he  determined  to  take  advantage  of  these  conditions  to 
subdue  the  city.  Before  he  started  on  the  expedition, 
however,  his  mother  died,  and  he  was  detained  in  Egypt 
by  the  preparations  for  her  interment.  Polyarchus,  ac- 
companied by  his  mother  Critola  and  his  sister  Eryxo, 
now  went  to  Egypt  to  propitiate  the  pharaoh.  Aahmes 
received  them  kindly,  and  praising  the  energy  they  had 
shown,  dismissed  them,  loaded  with  presents.  He  now 
abandoned  the  expedition  against  Cyrenas,  as  he  was  evi- 
dently satisfied  with  the  recognition  of  his  sovereignty. 
The  two  nations  hereafter  remained  at  peace  until  the 
downfall  of  Egypt. 

Aahmes  was  confined  entirely  to  Egypt.  His  expe- 
dition against  Cyprus,  though  at  first  successful,  had 
proved  in  the  end  a  failure ;  in  Asia  he  dared  not  inter- 
fere ;  Aethiopia  retained  its  independence,  and  his  sov- 
ereignty over  Cyrenag  was  purely  nominal.  While  the 
kingdom  thus  did  not  extend  its  boundaries  under  Aah- 
mes, still  his  reign  was  an  epoch  of  great  prosperity. 
Agriculture  and  commerce  flourished,  and  it  is  stated  that 
there  were  at  this  time  twenty  thousand  inhabited  places 
in  Egypt. 

The  Greeks  were,  of  course,  greatly  favored;  and 
costly  presents  were  made  to  their  temples,  among  them 
being  a  contribution  of  a  thousand  pounds  of  alum,  one 
of  the  most  important  raw  products  of  Egypt,  to  the  fund 
the  Amphictyons  were  collecting  for  rebuilding  the  Del- 


THE  EGYPTIAN  RENAISSANCE.  133 

phic  temple.  Greek  immigration  was  greatly  encouraged. 
The  Ionians  and  Carians,  whom  Psemtek  I  had  settled  on 
the  Pelusic  branch  of  the  Nile,  were  removed  to  Memphis 
to  serve  as  a  body-guard  to  the  pharaoh.  In  place  of  the 
harbor  thus  lost  to  the  Greeks,  the  king  gave  them  the 
city  of  Naucratis  and  its  surroundings,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  present  city  of  Alexandria.  This  new  city 
stood  outside  of  the  pale  of  Egyptian  jurisdiction,  and 
was  allowed  to  make  its  own  laws.  The  result  was,  that 
the  inhabitants  clung  to  their  own  Greek  customs  and  in- 
stitutions with  the  greatest  tenacity,  and  went  their  way 
entirely  uninfluenced  by  their  Egyptian  neighbors.  The 
city  being  originally  intended  for  Ionians  from  Teos,  its 
government  was  modeled  after  that  of  the  latter  city. 
This  town  became  the  center  of  Greek  activity  in  Egypt. 
In  it  was  erected  the  great  sanctuary  of  the  Greeks  in 
Egypt ;  this  was  the  Helleneion,  which  was  built  by  sev- 
eral Greek  cities  conjointly.  These  cities  were  Chios,  Teos, 
Phocaea,  Clazomenae,  Cnidos,  Halicarnassus,  Phaselis,  and 
Mytilene.  The  reason  why  so  many  cities  helped  to  build 
the  Helleneion  was,  that  all  of  the  cities  that  took  part  in 
this  work  had  the  privilege  of  sending  to  Naucratis  a 
"  supervisor  of  trade,"  or,  as  we  would  put  it,  appointing 
a  member  of  the  board  of  trade.  Temples  to  Zeus,  Hera, 
and  Apollo  were  also  built  by  other  cities,  who  thus 
gained  the  same  privilege  as  the  builders  of  the  Helle- 
neion. Naucratis  rose  very  rapidly,  owing  to  certain  laws 
that  gave  her  a  complete  monopoly  of  the  trade  with 
Greece.  The  Greeks  soon  had  colonies  in  all  parts  of 
Egypt,  even  in  the  southern  portions  of  the  country. 
The  Milesians  had  a  trading  post  at  Abydos,  and  Samian 
merchants  even  settled  in  the  Great  Oasis. 

Being  engaged  in  no  great  wars,  this  pharaoh  was  en- 
abled to  devote  considerable  attention  to  the  temples  of 
the  land.  In  all  parts  of  Egypt,  from  the  Delta  to  the 
island  of  Bigeh,  we  find  traces  of  his  work.  He  died  526 
B.  C,  after  having  been  co-regent  of  his  brother-in-law  for 
six  years  and  sole  ruler  for  thirty-eight  years. 


134  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

§  6.  Psemtek  III  and  the  Persian  Conquest  of  Egypt 
(J26-J2J  B.  a). 

When  Psemtek  III  ascended  the  throne  of  his  fathers, 
the  catastrophe  that  had  so  long  threatened  the  land  at 
length  overwhelmed  it.  The  account  of  this  catastrophe 
has  been  preserved  to  us  by  Herodotus.  The  stories  that, 
according  to  Greek  traditions,  impelled  Cambyses  to  in- 
vade Egypt  are  all  untrustworthy,  as  they  seek  to  bring 
Cambyses  into  relationship  with  the  Egyptian  kings  and 
to  find  the  cause  of  the  war  in  this  relationship,  while 
making  Cambyses  appear,  at  the  same  time,  as  the  legiti- 
mate pharaoh.  The  war,  far  from  having  any  such  cause 
as  the  Greek  historians  would  have  us  believe,  had,  in  all 
probability,  been  determined  on  already  by  Cyrus,  who 
was  prevented  from  carrying  out  this  part  of  his  plan  by 
other  matters.  Cambyses  was  free  to  attack  Egypt,  and 
he  had  ample  cause  for  war  in  the  fact  that  Egypt  had 
been  the  ally  of  his  father's  worst  enemies,  King  Croesus 
of  Lydia  and  King  Nabunaid  of  Babylon. 

Accordingly,  Cambyses  began  making  active  prepara- 
tions for  the  war,  and  everything  indicated  that  he  was 
going  to  have  a  hard  time  of  it.  The  eastern  frontier  of 
Egypt  was  protected  by  the  Syrian  Desert  that  skirted  it, 
to  cross  which  was  a  task  of  no  small  difficulty.  Recog- 
nizing this  fact,  Aahmes  had  concentrated  his  forces  at 
Pelusium,  hoping  to  gain  an  easy  victory  over  the  Persian 
army,  which  no  doubt  would  suffer  terribly  in  the  desert, 
and  reach  the  Egyptian  border  sadly  used  up.  Cambyses 
did  not  underrate  the  difficulty  of  the  undertaking,  and 
made  the  most  extensive  preparations.  A  great  fleet  was 
fitted  out  to  attack  Pelusium  by  sea,  while  the  army  at- 
tacked it  by  land.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  start,  he  re- 
ceived unexpected  and  timely  aid,  In  the  Egyptian  army 
there  was  a  Halicarnassian  officer  named  Phanes,  a  bright 
and  able  leader  who  had  had  some  difficulty  with  Aahmes. 
In  consequence  of  this  he  had  fled  to  the  Persian  monarch. 
On  the  way  he  was  overtaken  by  the  king's  favorite  eu- 
nuch, but  managed  to  escape.  Shortly  after  this  event 
Aahmes  had  died,  and  Psemtek  III  had  succeeded  him. 
Phanes  not  only  betrayed  to  the  Persians  all  the  secrets  of 
the  state,  but  he  also  showed  them  the  means  of  crossing 
the  desert  without  great  loss.    To  accomplish  this,  envoys 


THE  EGYPTIAN  RENAISSANCE.  135 

were  sent  to  all  the  Bedouin  sheiks  of  the  desert,  and  trea- 
ties were  concluded  with  them.  They  agreed  to  furnish 
the  army  with  camels  and  water,  and  thus  the  Persian 
army  was  enabled  to  cross  the  desert  and  to  reach  Pelu- 
sium  with  but  little  loss.  The  battle  that  ensued  was 
waged  with  great  fury ;  but,  finally,  after  both  sides  had 
lost  heavily,  the  Persians  were  victorious,  and  the  Egyp- 
tians fled  from  the  field.  Pelusium  surrendered  soon  after. 
A  ship  was  now  sent  to  Memphis,  whither  the  pharaoh 
had  fled,  to  demand  the  city's  surrender.  When  it  en- 
tered the  harbor  of  Memphis  the  garrison  boarded  it, 
killed  the  crew,  and  destroyed  the  vessel.  This  breach 
of  international  usage  met  with  a  severe  but  well-merited 
punishment.  Memphis  was  besieged  and  taken.  Ten 
days  after  the  capture  the  punishment  came  :  two  thousand 
sons  of  .the  most  respected  citizens,  among  them  the  son 
of  King  Psemtek,  were  executed,  to  atone  for  the  death  of 
the  two  hundred  men  that  had  composed  the  crew  of  the 
ill-fated  vessel.  The  daughter  of  the  pharaoh  and  the 
noblest  virgins  were  sold  into  slavery,  and  the  fortunes  of 
the  richest  citizens  and  of  the  king's  friends  were  confis- 
cated, leaving  their  former  owners  beggars.  The  fate  of 
Psemtek  was  comparatively  light,  Cambyses  even  intending 
to  make  him  governor  of  Egypt,  but  he  became  involved 
in  a  conspiracy  against  Cambyses,  and  was  compelled  to 
take  poison.     Thus  ended  the  last  of  the  Psemteks. 

As  a  result  of  the  capture  of  Memphis,  the  Libyans 
submitted  voluntarily,  and  paid  tribute.  Cyrenas  and  Bar- 
caea  also  sent  tribute,  but  this  the  Persian  monarch  di- 
vided among  his  soldiers,  as  he  hoped  to  gain  far  more  by 
capturing  these  rich  towns  than  he  could  ever  get  from 
them  as  voluntary  tribute. 


13 


CHAPTER  X. 

FROM  THE  PERSIAN   CONQUEST  TO  THE  INVASION  OF 
ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT   (525-33I  B.  C.). 

§  i .    The   Twenty-seventh  Dynasty — Persians  (525-414 
B.  a). 

Cambyses  (525-522  b.  a). — The  fall  of  Memphis 
seems  to  have  sealed  the  fate  of  Egypt.  The  rest  of  the 
country  in  all  probability  submitted  peaceably ;  the  very 
fact  that  the  Libyans,  Barcasa,  and  Cyrenae  offered  their 
submission  and  sent  tribute  right  after  the  capture  of 
Memphis  proves  that  from  that  time  on  the  Persian  mon- 
arch was  the  undisputed  ruler  of  Egypt.  Cambyses  ap- 
pointed Aryandes  satrap  of  Egypt,  but  seems  not  to  have 
changed  any  of  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the  land. 

Shortly  after  Memphis  surrendered,  the  king  paid  a 
visit  to  Sais,  the  then  capital  of  Egypt.  The  stories  that 
Herodotus  relates  of  outrages  committed  here  by  Cam- 
byses are  unhistorical,  being  utterly  disproved  by  an  in- 
scription on  the  statue  of  the  hereditary  prince,  Hor-utja- 
suten-net,  who  had  been  keeper  of  the  seal,  chief  scribe 
of  the  palace,  admiral  of  the  fleet,  chief  physician,  etc., 
under  Aahmes  II  and  Psemtek  III.  This  man  relates 
that  Kembut  (Cambyses)  came  to  Egypt  and  ruled  all  the 
land,  remaining  as  King  of  Egypt,  and  taking  the  corona- 
tion name  of  Mesut-Ra.  Hor-utja-suten-net  was  appointed 
by  him  chief  physician  and  superintendent  of  the  palace. 
He  initiated  the  king  into  the  mysteries  of  the  goddess 
Neit,  and  described  to  him  her  temple.  He  now  com- 
plained of  the  Persian  soldiery  that  had  taken  quarters  in 
the  temple,  and  begged  that  they  be  removed  so  that  the 
temple  might  be  clean  again.  The  king  ordered  that  the 
temple  be  cleansed,  that  all  of  her  servants  be  restored  to 


THE  PERSIANS  IN  EGYPT.  137 

the  goddess,  and  that  her  festivals  be  celebrated  as  of 
yore.  When  the  king  came  to  Sais  he  went  to  the  temple 
of  Neit,  worshiped  her,  and  sacrificed  to  her  and  all  the 
other  gods  of  Sais  ;  in  short,  conducted  all  the  sacred  cere- 
monies the  same  as  every  former  king  had  done.  He 
also  ordered  Hor-utja-suten-net  to  prepare  an  inventory 
of  all  the  temple  utensils,  and  to  erect  buildings  for  the 
goddess.  We  see  that  the  Persian  monarch  strove  to  ap- 
pear as  the  successor  of  the  pharaohs — a  policy  he  pursued 
until  his  understanding  was  clouded  by  insanity. 

Cambyses  now  determined  to  conquer  the  rest  of 
Africa.  Three  expeditions  were  planned — one  against 
Carthage,  another  against  the  Oasis  of  Amon,  and  a  third 
against  Aethiopia.  The  first  of  these  expeditions  was 
never  undertaken,  as  the  Phoenicians,  who  made  up  the 
greater  part  of  the  Persian  fleet,  refused  to  serve  against 
Carthage ;  and  Cambyses,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  had 
joined  him  voluntarily,  did  not  dare  to  force  them.  The 
expedition  against  the  Oasis  of  Amon  proved  a  failure. 
An  army  of  fifty  thousand  men  started  from  Thebes  and 
marched  through  the  Sahara  to  the  Greek  town  of  Oasis. 
After  they  left  this  smaller  oasis  no  news  of  them  ever 
reached  Egypt ;  in  all  probability  they  perished  in  a  sand- 
storm. The  expedition  against  Aethiopia  was  in  the  main 
successful,  although  the  Greek  historians  strove  to  give 
the  impression  that  it  was  a  failure.  Besides  the  half- 
legendary  account  of  Herodotus,  according  to  which  pro- 
visions gave  out  on  the  march,  and  the  men  after  eating 
their  beasts  of  burden  were  compelled  to  resort  to  canni- 
balism, we  have  no  full  account  of  this  campaign.  But 
the  fact  that  Aethiopian  troops  fought  against  the  Greeks 
under  Xerxes,  and  the  mention  by  Ptolemy  and  Pliny  of  a 
town,  Cambyson  Tamieia,  in  Aethiopia,  prove  that  the 
campaign  was  successful.  Moreover,  Strabo  and  others 
relate  that  Cambyses  captured  the  capital  of  Aethiopia, 
and  named  it  Meroe,  after  his  sister.  As  the  army  was 
returning,  a  sand-storm  overtook  it  near  the  First  Cataract, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
men  perished.  Only  a  fragment  of  the  great  army  re- 
turned to  Egypt.  Cambyses  had,  however,  fully  accom- 
plished his  object :  he  had  thoroughly  subdued  Egypt,  and 
secured  it  against  foreign  invasion. 

On  his  return  from  Aethiopia  a  great  change  came 


138  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

over  the  spirit  of  his  reign.  From  early  youth  he  had 
been  subject  to  epileptic  fits,  and  now  he  became  insane. 
His  insanity  seems  to  have  first  broken  out  in  Memphis, 
at  the  festival  of  the  enthroning  of  an  Apis-steer.  While 
the  king  was  warring  in  Aethiopia  the  old  Apis-steer  had 
died,  and  shortly  before  his  return  a  new  one  had  been 
found.  As  he  entered  Memphis  he  found,  according  to 
Herodotus,  the  citizens  celebrating  a  great  festival.  This 
naturally  angered  him,  as  he  supposed  they  were  rejoicing 
over  the  loss  of  his  army.  So  he  summoned  the  elders  of 
the  city  before  him  and  asked  them  why  the  Egyptians 
were  celebrating  a  festival,  now  that  he  was  returning  after 
meeting  with  so  severe  a  loss,  and  had  celebrated  no  fes- 
tival when  he  first  came.  They  replied  that  a  god  had 
been  born  to  the  Egyptians,  whose  birth  was  always  cele- 
brated in  this  manner ;  and  the  king  had  them  executed 
as  liars.  He  then  sent  for  the  priests,  and,  on  questioning 
them,  received  the  same  answer.  Now  he  made  further 
inquiries  regarding  the  god,  and  finally  ordered  the  sacred 
steer  to  be  brought  before  him.  When  the  animal  was 
brought,  the  king  drew  his  sword,  intending  to  kill  it,  but 
succeeded  only  in  wounding  it  on  the  thigh.  Then  he 
scoffed  at  the  priests,  telling  them  their  god  was  only  flesh 
and  blood,  after  all.  He  now  had  the  priests  scourged, 
and  had  all  persons  who  took  part  in  the  festival  killed. 
The  Apis  died  of  his  wound  soon  afterward,  and  was  se- 
cretly interred  by  the  priests.  While  this  account  is  cer- 
tainly overdrawn,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
killing  of  the  Apis  is  historical,  for  this  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  the  only  sacrilege  the  king  was  guilty  of.  He 
is  accused  of  having  made  fun  of  the  statues  of  Ptah, 
which  represent  the  god  as  a  dwarf,  and  of  having  robbed 
temples  and  burned  several  statues  of  gods.  These  out- 
rages were  no  doubt  all  committed  after  he  had  become 
insane,  for  the  inscription  of  Hor-utja-suten-net  proves 
that  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign  this  king  had  everywhere 
sought  to  imitate  the  pharaohs.  The  Greek  historians 
were  naturally  prejudiced  against  him,  and  strove  to  make 
him  appear  as  a  wild,  remorseless  tyrant,  in  glaring  con- 
trast to-his  father  Cyrus,  whom  they  depicted  as  an  ideal 
ruler.  The  whole  history  of  Cambyses  was  written  by  He- 
rodotus from  an  unhistorical  standpoint.  His  object  was 
to  make  this  reign  a  grand  tragedy :  the  king  was  a  wild, 


THE  PERSIANS  IN  EGYPT.  139 

insane  tyrant,  and  his  violent  death  was  a  punishment  for 
his  many  sins  against  the  gods  and  men.  This  may  be 
tragedy,  but  it  certainly  is  not  history. 

Persia  itself  suffered  from  the  insanity  of  the  king  just 
as  much  as  did  Egypt.  Cambyses's  greatest  crime  was  the 
murder  of  his  brother  Bardja,  whom  he  had  assassinated 
by  Prexaspes.  He  is  also  accused  of  having  attempted 
to  murder  Croesus,  the  old  friend  of  his  father,  and  of 
having  killed  the  son  of  Prexaspes  while  drunk.  At  last 
the  end  came.  Cambyses  had  for  unknown  reasons  gone 
to  Syria.  Here  news  of  a  revolt  in  Persia  reached  him. 
He  had  before  leaving  Persia  appointed  Patizeithes,  a 
Magian,  superintendent  of  the  palace.  This  man  knew  of 
the  murder  of  Bardja,  and  determined  to  make  use  of  his 
knowledge.  He  had  a  brother  named  Gaumata,  who 
closely  resembled  the  murdered  prince.  This  brother  he 
placed  on  the  throne,  and  proclaimed  through  all  the  land 
that  Bardja  had  ascended  the  throne  of  Persia.  Cam- 
byses easily  convinced  himself  that  this  so-called  Bardja 
was  a  swindler,  and  determined  to  suppress  the  revolt. 
As  he  was  about  to  start  out  on  this  expedition,  he  acci- 
dentally wounded  himself — tradition  asserts  in  the  thigh, 
the  same  place  where  he  wounded  the  Apis— and  of  this 
wound  he  died.  Before  his  death,  however,  he  assembled 
his  nobles  about  his  bed,  confessed  the  murder  of  Bardja, 
and  urged  them  to  punish  the  Median  usurper. 

Darius  I  (Eg.,  Antliush,  521-485  B.  a). — For  a 
while  the  Persian  nobles  remained  inactive,  fearing  to  di- 
vulge the  murder  of  Bardja;  but  finally,  in  521  B.  C, 
Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  who  was  the  next  heir  to 
the  throne,  Cambyses  having  died  childless,  with  six  com- 
panions succeeded  in  slaying  the  usurper.  As  Hystaspes 
declined  the  crown,  Darius  now  became  King  of  Persia. 
The  new  king  was  compelled  to  combat  with  several 
usurpers  in  Persia,  but  Egypt  remained  loyal.  Aryandes, 
the  satrap  appointed  by  Cambyses,  had  been  left  in  office 
by  Darius.  He  felt  sufficiently  strong  to  attempt  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Persian  power  in  Africa.  A  fine  oppor- 
tunity to  do  this  soon  offered  itself.  When  Cambyses 
invaded  Egypt,  Cyrenas  had  voluntarily  submitted  and 
paid  tribute.  King  Arkesilaus  III  made  about  this  time 
a  trip  to  Barcasa,  after  having  appointed  his  mother,  Phe- 
retime,  regent.     Here  he  was  murdered  by  some  Cyre- 


140  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

nseic  refugees.  As  soon  as  Pheretime  heard  of  this  she 
went  to  Egypt  and  asked  Aryandes  to  aid  her  in  punish- 
ing the  murderers  of  her  son.  Aryandes  gladly  assented, 
and  sent  an  army  under  the  Egyptian  Aahmes  and  a  fleet 
under  the  Persian  Badres  against  Barcasa.  Pheretime 
herself  accompanied  the  army.  The  combined  forces 
reached  the  city  without  loss,  and  the  extradition  of  Arke- 
silaus's  murderers  was  demanded  but  refused.  The  city 
was  hereupon  beleaguered,  but  held  out  for  nine  months, 
and  was  then  captured  only  by  stratagem.  Pheretime's 
revenge  was  terrible :  her  son's  murderers  were  crucified 
and  their  wives  were  cruelly  mutilated.  Part  of  the  pris- 
oners taken  were  handed  over  to  Pheretime,  part  were 
sent  to  Persia  and  settled  in  Bactria  by  Darius.  The 
army  now  advanced  to  Euhesperides,  but  soon  began  the 
retreat.  A  wrangle  between  the  commanders  had  led  to 
this  retreat,  and  soon  after  they  started  a  messenger  came 
from  Aryandes  ordering  them  home.  On  the  retreat  the 
Libyans  are  said  to  have  attacked  and  cut  to  pieces  the 
rear-guard.  Aryandes  had  a  definite  object  in  recalling 
the  .army.  He  had  planned  the  foundation  of  an  inde- 
pendent Egyptian  empire.  The  details  of  his  plan  are 
unknown,  but  he  seems  to  have  become  dangerous,  for  he 
was  executed  at  the  command  of  Darius. 

Late  in  the  year  517  B.  C.  Darius  himself  came  to 
Egypt.  Shortly  before  his  arrival,  the  Apis-steer  which 
had  been  enthroned  in  the  reign  of  Cambyses  died  and 
Darius  offered  a  reward  of  one  hundred  talents  to  whom- 
soever would  find  the  new  Apis.  Darius  thus  returned  to 
the  policy  inaugurated  by  Cambyses  when  he  first  came 
to  Egypt.  Early  in  his  reign  he  ordered  Hor-utja-suten- 
net  to  fill  the  complement  of  temple  scribes.  This  noble 
accordingly  established  schools  for  the  scribes  and  fitted 
them  out  with  everything  that  was  needful,  for  Darius 
well  knew  that  this  was  the  best  way  of  preserving  the 
names  of  the  gods,  their  temples  and  incomes  forever.  He 
repaired  the  temple  of  Memphis  and  made  valuable  pres- 
ents to  the  temple  of  Edfu  ;  but  his  chief  work  was  the 
building  of  the  temple  in  the  Oasis  El-Kargeh.  We  see, 
thus,  that  Darius  posed  everywhere  as  a  pharaoh,  and  so 
successfully  did  he  carry  out  this  policy  that  he  complete- 
ly won  the  hearts  of  his  Egyptian  subjects  in  a  very  short 
while. 


THE  PERSIANS  IN  EGYPT,  141 

Like  Nekau,  Darius  determined  to  re-establish  the  con- 
nection between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea  that  had  ex- 
isted in  the  times  of  Seti  I  and  Ramses  II.  A  stele  bear- 
ing on  one  side  an  inscription  in  hieroglyphics  and  on  the 
other  side  a  translation  of  this  in  Median,  Persian,  and 
Babylonian,  recounts  this  fact.  This  inscription  reads :  "  I 
am  a  Persian.  With  the  aid  of  Persia  I  conquered  Egypt. 
I  gave  orders  to  dig  this  canal  from  the  river  Nile  which 
flows  in  Egypt  to  the  sea  which  is  connected  with  Persia. 
Then  this  canal  was  dug  as  I  had  ordered.  But  I  said : 
1  Now  go  and  destroy  half  this  canal  from  the  city  of  Bira 
to  the  sea,  because  such  is  my  will.' "  Why  this  last  or- 
der was  given  he  does  not  say.  Diodorus  and  Strabo, 
however,  relate  that  his  engineers  represented  to  him  that 
if  the  canal  were  completed  the  Red  Sea,  which  lay  higher 
than  Egypt,  would  flood  the  country.  It  is  a  curious  fact 
that  Herodotus  regarded  the  canal  as  completed,  for  he 
says  it  was  four  days'  journey  long,  and  wide  enough  to 
allow  two  triremes  to  pass  in  line.  It  is  further  note- 
worthy that  Cambyses  had  already  founded  a  city,  named 
Cambyson,  after  him,  near  the  route  of  the  canal.  Prob- 
ably he  had  intended  to  undertake  the  work,  but  had  died 
before  it  was  begun. 

The  most  important  act  of  his  reign  was  that  he 
erected  Egypt,  together  with  Libya,  Barcsea,  and  Cyrenas, 
into  the  sixth  satrapy.  This  satrapy  had  to  pay  an  an- 
nual tax  of  seven  hundred  talents,  or  eight  hundred  and 
twenty-six  thousand  dollars.  The  fisheries  of  Lake  Mceris 
were  declared  to  be  the  property  of  the  crown.  The 
Egyptians  had  to  furnish  the  Persian  garrison  of  the  cita- 
del of  Memphis  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  bush- 
els of  grain  annually.  Further,  they  had  to  furnish  salt 
and  Nile  water  for  the  royal  table.  The  income  of  the 
city  of  Anthylla  was  given  the  Queen  of  Persia,  according 
to  some  accounts  for  her  shoes,  according  to  others  for 
her  belts,  or,  as  we  would  say,  for  pin-money. 

Late  in  this  reign,  four  years  after  the  battle  of  Mara- 
thon, the  Egyptians  made  an  effort  to  regain  their  inde- 
pendence. They  made  a  man  named  Chabbash  king ; 
but  before  Darius  could  march  against  the  rebels  he  died, 
485  B.  C,  in  the  thirty-sixth  year  of  his  reign. 

Xerxes  (Eg.,  Cheshzresh,  485-472  B.  c). — When 
Xerxes  came  to  the  throne  of  Persia,  Chabbash  had  firmly 


142  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

established  himself  in  Egypt.  He  assumed  the  corona- 
tion-name of  Senen-  Tanen  Setep-en-Ptah,  and  was  exer- 
cising all  the  functions  of  a  legitimate  pharaoh.  In  the 
second  year  of  his  reign  he  interred  an  Apis,  probably  the 
one  that  was  enthroned  in  the  thirty-first  year  of  Darius's 
reign.  Several  temples,  among  them  that  of  Buto,  were 
given  large  tracts  of  land.  The  Egyptian  king  did  not 
neglect  to  prepare  to  meet  an  attack  from  Persia  which 
could  be  expected  every  day.  The  mouths  of  the  Nile 
were  strongly  fortified,  and  everything  was  put  in  readi- 
ness to  repel  the  expected  attack.  The  rebel  king  could 
not,  however,  hold  out  against  Xerxes.  The  country  was 
again  subdued,  and  Achaemenes,  the  king's  brother,  was 
appointed  satrap  with  orders  to  institute  a  very  strict  ri- 
gime.  Achaemenes  kept  his  position  all  his  life,  and  it 
was  probably  his  harsh  rule  that  led  to  the  revolt  of  Ina- 
ros.  In  the  war  with  Greece  the  Egyptians  had  to  fit  out 
and  man  two  hundred  vessels,  the  crews  of  which  were 
afterward  transferred  to  the  land  army  and  took  part  in 
the  battle  of  Plataea. 

Artaxerxes  (Eg.,  Artachsheshes)  and  the  Re- 
volt of  Inaros  (464-448  b.  a). — After  the  assassina- 
tion of  Xerxes  the  country  was  for  a  while  plunged  into 
anarchy  and  divided  by  wars  for  the  succession,  which 
were  finally  brought  to  a  close  in  464  B.  c.  by  the  acces- 
sion of  Artaxerxes.  During  these  wars  the  Persians  lost 
control  over  several  provinces,  among  which  was  Egypt. 
As  they  had  taken  advantage  of  the  temporary  weakness 
of  the  Persians  after  their  defeat  at  Marathon,  the  Egyp- 
tians now  took  advantage  of  the  anarchy  existing  in  Per- 
sia to  make  another  fight  for  liberty.  Cyrenas  had  during 
the  past  reign  gradually  regained  its  independence,  and 
the  Libyans  seem  to  have  been  left  pretty  much  to  them- 
selves since  the  revolt  of  Chabbash  ;  in  fact,  it  would  seem 
that  this  rebel  was  a  Libyan  or  of  Libyan  descent.  His 
name  certainly  is  not  Egyptian. 

At  the  time  Artaxerxes  came  to  the  throne,  a  sover- 
eign named  Inaros,  the  son  of  Psetntek,  ruled  over  the 
Libyan  tribes  that  dwelt  on  the  Egyptian  border.  This 
chief  determined  to  free  Egypt  from  the  Persian  yoke, 
and  easily  succeeded  in  inciting  the  greater  part  of  the 
country  to  revolt.  The  people  chose  him  king,  drove  out 
the  Persian  tax-collectors,  and.  raised  an  army.     The  first 


THE  PERSIANS  IN  EGYPT,  143 

object  of  the  new  pharaoh  was  to  secure  allies  against 
Persia.  He  easily  succeeding  in  getting  aid  from  Cyrenae. 
He  next  turned  to  Athens,  and  the  Athenians  concluded 
a  treaty  with  him,  and  ordered  their  fleet  of  two  hundred 
sail,  which  lay  at  Cyprus,  to  proceed  to  Egypt.  This  fleet 
forced  its  way  up  the  Nile  as  far  as  Memphis,  two  thirds 
of  which  city  had  already  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Egyptians.  The  citadel,  however,  was  still  held  by  the 
Persians,  and  such  Egyptians  as  had  remained  loyal  to 
Persia.  This  citadel  the  combined  forces  of  the  Egyptians 
and  Greeks  beleaguered,  but  all  attempts  to  reduce  it 
failed.  Meanwhile  Artaxerxes,  hearing  of  the  revolt,  had 
confirmed  his  uncle  Achaemenes  as  satrap  of  Egypt,  and 
sent  him  an  army  of  three  hundred  thousand  men  to  put 
down  the  rebellion.  This  army  entered  the  Delta  with- 
out encountering  any  opposition.  At  Papremis  they  were 
met  by  the  combined  forces  of  the  Egyptians  and  Athe- 
nians and  utterly  routed.  They  fled  from  the  field,  and 
the  Egyptians  pursuing,  a  terrible  massacre  ensued  ;  only 
a  mere  fragment  of  the  vast  army  succeeded  in  getting 
safely  behind  the  walls  of  Memphis  (462  B.  c).  Achae- 
menes himself  was  mortally  wounded,  and  died  soon  after 
the  battle.     His  body  was  sent  to  Artaxerxes. 

The  Persian  king  now  began  intriguing  for  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Athenian  troops,  offering  the  Spartans  large 
subsidies  if  they  would  attack  Athens.  Failing  in  this,  he 
at  last  fitted  out  a  new  army,  and  placed  it  under  com- 
mand of  Artabanos  and  Megabyzos,  two  brave  generals. 
In  461  B.  c.  this  new  army  of  three  hundred  thousand 
men  marched  into  Cilicia.  Here  a  halt  was  made,  and 
the  Cilicians  and  Phoenicians  were  ordered  to  equip  a 
fleet.  Three  hundred  triremes  having  been  fitted  out, 
they  were  manned  with  the  best  troops  in  the  army.  The 
land  forces  were  put  through  a  careful  course  of  training. 
Meanwhile  the  war  had  come  to  a  standstill  in  Egypt. 
The  combined  forces  of  the  Egyptians  and  Athenians  still 
lay  before  the  citadel  of  Memphis,  but  could  not  compel 
its  surrender.  At  length,  in  460  B.  C,  the  Persian  army 
began  to  move.  Marching  along  the  coast  so  as  to  keep 
in  constant  communication  with  the  fleet,  the  army  at 
length  entered  Egypt  without  having  encountered  any 
opposition.  The  allies  seem  to  have  been  utterly  blind  to 
the  threatening  danger,  deeming  it  improbable  that  the 


144  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

Persians  should  again  attack  them  after  their  terrible  de- 
feat at  Papremis  two  years  before.  They  were,  however, 
pretty  rudely  awakened  when  they  suddenly  found  them- 
selves face  to  face  with  the  Persian  army.  They  accepted 
the  proffered  battle  and  were  utterly  routed.  Memphis 
was  relieved,  and  the  Athenians  withdrew  with  their  ships 
to  the  island  of  Prosopitis,  in  the  Nile.  A  year  and  a  half 
they  held  out  here,  until  the  Persians  dammed  the  Nile, 
and  thus  beached  the  Athenian  ships.  The  Athenians 
burning  their  vessels,  intrenched  themselves  and  prepared 
to  sell  their  lives  dearly ;  but  the  object  of  the  Persians 
was  not  to  destroy  them,  but  to  render  them  useless  as 
allies  of  Inaros,  and  to  drive  them  from  Egypt.  They 
therefore  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Athenians,  guaran- 
teeing them  a  safe  retreat.  In  this  manner  part  of  the 
Athenian  army  succeeded  in  reaching  Athens  by  way  of 
Libya  and  Cyrenaa.  Inaros  was  not  so  fortunate  :  wounded 
and  captured  in  an  engagement,  he  was  sent  to  Persia,  his 
life  being  spared.  Here,  at  the  instigation  of  Queen 
Amestris,  who  desired  to  avenge  Achasmenes,  he  was 
crucified  and  his  companions  were  beheaded. 

The  war  was  not,  however,  ended  yet.  The  Athenians 
had  sent  a  fleet  of  fifty  sail  to  re-enforce  their  fleet  before 
Memphis.  It  entered  the  Mendesian  branch  of  the  Nile, 
where  it  was  surprised  by  the  Phoenicians,  and  almost 
completely  destroyed,  only  a  few  vessels  escaping.  For 
several  years  Amyrtceus  (Egyptian,  Anienruf)  succeeded 
in  holding  his  own  in  the  Delta.  Like  his  friend  and  ally 
Inaros,  he  sent  to  Athens  for  aid,  and  sixty  ships  were 
ordered  by  Cimon  to  proceed  to  Egypt  from  Cyprus ;  but 
these  vessels  were  of  no  avail,  for  they  returned  to  Athens 
on  hearing  of  Cimon's  death  (449  B.  C).  In  445  B.  c.  a 
certain  Psemtek  (Greek,  Psammetichos)  seems  to  have 
held  an  independent  position  in  Egypt,  for  he  sent  thirty 
thousand  bushels  of  grain  to  Athens. 

After  the  rebellion  had  been  suppressed,  Artabanos  and 
Megabyzos  returned  home,  and  Larsames  was  appointed 
satrap.  Thannyras,  the  son  of  Inaros,  and  Pauszrisy 
the  son  of  Amyrtceus,  were  given  their  hereditary  princi- 
palities—  the  former  probably  Libya  and  the  latter  the 
western  part  of  the  Delta.  How  long  these  princes  reigned, 
and  in  what  relation  they  stood  to  Persia,  we  can  not  say. 
Herodotus,  who  visited  Egypt  shortly  after  the  suppression 


THE  PERSIANS  IN  EGYPT.  145 

of  the  revolt  of  Inaros,  found  Egypt  tranquil  under  Per- 
sian rule.  There  was  then  no  trace  of  an  independent 
Egyptian  kingdom,  and  the  only  traces  of  the  late  troubles 
were  the  bleaching  bones  on  the  old  battle-fields.  Egypt 
was  again  prosperous  and  happy,  celebrating  its  old  festi- 
vals in  the  old  manner — a  striking  proof  of  the  elasticity  of 
the  people. 

The  reigns  of  Xerxes  II,  Sogdianus,  and  Darius  II,  had 
but  little  import  for  Egypt  (448-414  B.  c),  except  that  in 
the  latter  part  of  Darius's  reign  the  Egyptians  again  re- 
volted, and  this  time  succeeded  in  gaining  their  independ- 
ence, under  the  leadership  of  Amenrut. 

§  2.   The  Twenty-eighth  Dynasty  (414-408  B.  C). 

Amenrut  (Greek,  Amyrtceos). —  Late  in  the  year 
41 5  B.  C.  Amenrut,  of  Sais,  succeeded,  with  the  aid  of 
Greek  mercenaries,  in  delivering*  Egypt  from  the  Persian 
rule.  No  details  of  this  successful  revolt  are  known,  but 
it  would  seem  that  it  stood  in  some  connection  with  the 
revolt  of  Pissuthnes  in  Lydia,  which  occurred  at  about 
the  same  time,  while  that  of  Amorges  in  Caria  (413-412 
B.  C.)  kept  the  Persian  kings  busy  at  home,  so  that  Amen- 
rut was  enabled  to  establish  himself  firmly  on  the  Egyp- 
tian throne.  The  whole  of  Egypt  soon  came  under  his 
control,  and  it  would  even  seem  that  he  was  able  to  take 
the  offensive  against  Persia.  A  remark  of  Thucydides 
appears  to  point  to  the  fact  that  he  was  allied  with  Athens 
in  412  and  41 1  b.  c.  In  410  B.  c,  according  to  Diodorus, 
he,  together  with  the  King  of  Arabia,  threatened  the  Phoe- 
nician seaboard,  and  the  Persian  king  sent  a  fleet  of  three 
hundred  sail  against  them.  Despite  these  successes,  he 
could  not  hold  himself  on  the  throne,  but  was  deposed  by 
the  mercenaries.  His  son  was  excluded  from  the  succes- 
sion, and  Naif -da-rut  elevated  to  the  throne  (408  B.  C). 

§  3.  The  Twenty-ninth  Dynasty  (408-386  B.  c). 

Naif-aa-rut  I  (Nepherites)  (408-402  B.  c). — The 
first  act  of  the  new  king  was  to  appoint  his  son  Necht- 
Hor-heb  (Nectanebus)  co-regent ;  but  this  act  did  not 
please  the  people,  and  Prince  Necht-Hor-heb  was  banished 
to  his  city,  from  which  he  returned  twenty-one  years  later 


146  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT, 

as  king.  All  that  we  know  of  this  king  is,  that  an  Apis- 
steer  was  buried  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign.  Some 
blocks,  bearing  his  name,  found  at  Thebes,  prove  that  he 
built  there. 

Pa-sa-mut  (Greek,  Psamutkis)  (402-401  B.  a). — 
According  to  the  Demotic  Chronicles,  this  pharaoh  had 
not  served  the  gods  well,  and  consequently  had  not  been 
generally  recognized.  This  assertion  is  not  well  founded, 
as  the  inscriptions  prove.  Numerous  blocks  of  stone 
bearing  his  name,  Rd-oueser-setep-en-Rd  Pa-sa-Mut>  found 
at  Thebes,  prove  that  he  built  at  the  temple  of  Amon. 
\y^  Haker  (Greek,  Aeon's)  (400-386  B.  c.)  ruled  thir- 
teen years.  He  had  been,  like  his  predecessor,  placed  on 
the  throne  by  the  mercenaries,  and,  as  he  was  just  and 
looked  after  the  decaying  temples,  he  was  retained  as  king 
as  long  as  he  lived.  He  was  busy  repairing  temples  in  all 
parts  of  Egypt.  Diodorus  relates  that  Haker  became  in- 
volved in  the  wars  between  Greece  and  Persia.  At  this 
time  Sparta  was  at  war  with  the  common  enemy,  and 
Agesilaos  sent  envoys  to  Egypt  asking  for  aid.  Haker 
sent  him  timber  for  one  hundred_trirejn£S  and  five  hundred 
thousand  bushels  of  grain.  These  stores  were  forwarded 
to  Rhodos,  which  city  had  meanwhile  deserted  Sparta  and 
joined  Persia,  so  that  the  present  intended  for  that  state 
came  to  be  used  against  it.  We  hear  also,  through  Theo- 
pompus,  of  a  treaty  of  alliance  which  this  king  concluded 
with  the  Pisidians,  but  we  know  not  what  came  of  this  al- 
liance. Possibly  it  stood  in  some  connection  with  a  war 
between  Egypt  and  Persia  that  lasted  from  390-387  B.  c, 
and  in  which  Isocrates  says  the  three  greatest  Persian 
generals — Abrokomas,  Tethranes,  and  Pharnabazos — had 
fought  against  Egypt  for  three  years  without  accomplish- 
ing anything,  just  before  the  beginning  of  the  Cypriote 
war.  This  war  broke  out  in  386  B.  C,  King  Euagoras  of 
Cyprus  revolting  against  Persia,  and  calling  on  Haker  for 
aid.  The  pharaoh  sent  him  troops,  but  before  the  war 
was  well  begun  he  died  (386  B.  C). 

Naif-aa-rut  II  (Greek,  Nepherites)  (386  B.  a),  the 
son  of  Haker,  succeeded  his  father  on  the  throne  with  the 
aid  of  the  troops;  but  the  people  did  not  support  him, 
and  consequently  the  soldiers  deserted  him  and  killed  his 
son.  They  hereupon  "  restored  the  right  " — i.  e.,  they 
placed  on  the  throne  Necht-Hor-heb,  the  son  of  Naif -da- 


EGYPT  AGAIN  INDEPENDENT.  147 

rut  I,  who  had  been  banished  and  deprived  of  his  right  to 
the  succession. 

§  4.   The  Thirtieth  Dynasty  (jS6-J4p  B.  a). 

Necht-Hor-heb  (Nectanebus  I)  (386-368  B.  C.).— 
The  Egyptian  monuments  teach  us  nothing  of  this  king's 
reign.  Diodorus  has,  however,  luckily  preserved  an  ac- 
count of  him  which  proves  that  he  was  the  most  impor- 
tant Egyptian  king  of  this  entire  period.  In  his  reign 
Egypt  again  took  an  influential  place  among  the  nations 
of  the  world ;  it  could  defy  Persia,  and  could  dare  to  as- 
sert its  influence  in  Asia.  In  this  reign  falls  the  Cypriote 
war  that  began  shortly  before  the  death  of  Haker.  The 
war  had  dragged  along  for  several  years  before  Artaxerxes 
saw  the  need  of  specially  exerting  'himself  to  put  an  end 
to  it.  He  now  raised  an  army  of  three  hundred  thousand 
men,  which  was  put  under  command  of  his  son-in-law 
Orontes,  and  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  triremes, 
the  command  of  which  was  given  to  Teribazus.  These 
combined  forces  proceeded  to  Cyprus,  and  at  once  began 
to  push  the  war.  Euagoras  had  also  made  extensive 
preparations.  Necht-Hor-heb  sent  him  a  goodly  army; 
Hecatombos,  of  Caria,  sent  money;  several  Phoenician 
cities,  among  them  Tyre,  joined  him  ;  the  King  of  Arabia, 
and  other  rulers  hostile  to  Persia,  sent  troops.  Thus  he 
managed  to  get  together  ninety  ships  and  six  thousand 
native  troops,  besides  the  contingents  of  his  allies.  His 
privateers  succeeded  in  cutting  off  the  grain  transport 
for  the  Persian  army,  and  a  mutiny  broke  out  among  the 
troops.  Glus,  the  newly  appointed  Persian  admiral,  con- 
sequently had  to  go  to  Cilicia  for  grain  before  undertaking 
anything.  Euagoras  received  his  provisions  and  large 
amounts  of  money  from  Egypt.  He  was  now  enabled 
to  increase  his  fleet  to  two  hundred  sail,  fifty  ships  hav- 
ing been  sent  him  from  Egypt.  With  this  fleet  he  at- 
tacked the  Persian  ships,  and,  though  at  first  successful, 
was  in  the  end  defeated,  after  a  hotly  contested  battle. 
The  Persians  now  began  the  siege  of  his  capital,  Salamis. 
Though  he  had  won  a  victory  on  land  shortly  before  his 
defeat  at  sea,  Euagoras  lost  courage,  and,  after  appointing 
his  son  Pnytagoras  commander  in  Salamis,  he  fled  from 
the  island.  Escorted  by  ten  men-of-war,  he  went  to  Egypt 
i4 


148  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

to  solicit  further  aid.  Necht-Hor-heb  gave  him  a  sum  of 
money,  somewhat  less  than  he  had  expected,  but  sufficient 
for  his  present  purpose,  and  so  he  returned  home  (383 
B.  C).  He  found  the  siege  of  Salamis  still  going  on,  and, 
as  his  allies  were  beginning  to  desert  him,  he  offered  his 
submission.  After  a  long  delay  the  decision  came  that  he 
should  remain  King  of  Cyprus  as  a  Persian  vassal,  and  must 
pay  an  annual  tribute.) 

The  war  wit  h~  Egypt  continued.  Glus,  the  Persian 
admiral,  revolted  shortly  after  the  surrender  of  Salamis, 
and,  allying  himself  with  Egypt  and  Sparta,  began  a  new 
war  against  Persia.  He  was,  however,  assassinated  soon 
after,  and  thus  his  plans  came  to  naught.  Now  that  he 
had  brought  the  war  in  Cyprus  to  a  successful  close,  the 
Persian  king  determined  to  punish  his  inveterate  enemy, 
the  King  of  Egypt.  Necht-Hor-heb  knew  what  was  com- 
ing, and  made  his  preparations  accordingly.  He  began 
hiring  mercenaries,  and  as  he  offered  high  pay  and  costly 
presents,  he  soon  had  collected  a  fine  army.  As  general 
he  called  Chabrias,  of  Athens,  who  accepted  the  call  with- 
out first  asking  the  permission  of  his  government,  and 
going  to  Egypt  conducted  the  preparations  for  the  war 
with  great  energy.  Pharnabazos,  the  Persian  commander- 
in-chief,  was  also  very  busy  with  his  preparations.  He 
sent  envoys  to  Athens  to  accuse  Chabrias  of  alienating 
the  good  feelings  of  Persia  from  Athens,  and  to  ask  the 
Athenians  to  send  him  Iphicrates  as  general.  Chabrias 
was  accordingly  recalled,  and  Iphicrates  sent  to  Persia 
(between  376  and  374  B.  a).  At  length,  374  B.  a,  Phar- 
nabazos was  ready.  He  had  collected  an  army  of  two 
hundred  thousand  native  troops  and  twenty  thousand 
Greek  mercenaries,  three  hundred  men-of-war,  and  a  large 
fleet  of  smaller  craft.  This  force  mustered  at  Ake",  and 
thence  proceeded  along  the  coast  toward  Egypt.  Early 
in  the  summer  they  reached  the  border,  after  several  at- 
tempts to  betray  the  army  had  been  detected  and  pre- 
vented by  Iphicrates. 

Necht-Hor-heb  had  regular  reports  concerning  the 
strength  and  movements  of  the  enemy.  His  plan  of  op- 
erations was  very  simple  :  he  relied  on  the  natural  bul- 
warks of  the  land.  All  the  border  forts  were  greatly 
strengthened  and  the  mouths  of  the  Nile  were  strongly 
fortified,  the  strongest  fortifications  being  erected  on  the 


EGYPT  AGAIN  INDEPENDENT.  149 

Pelusian  branch,  the  one  nearest  to  Asia.  When  the 
Persians  approached  this  branch  they  found  it  too  strong, 
and  determined  to  attempt  some  less  strongly  fortified 
branch  of  the  river.  Consequently  they  put  to  sea,  and 
soon  after  appeared  on  the  Mendesian  branch,  where  they 
landed  three  thousand  men,  who  advanced  on  the  fort. 
An  equal  number  of  Egyptians  sallied  from  the  fort  to 
meet  them ;  but  the  enemy  being  constantly  re-enforced 
from  their  ships,  the  Egyptians  were  almost  cut  to  pieces. 
A  small  remnant  of  their  force  escaped  to  the  fort,  closely 
pursued  by  Iphicrates's  men,  who  entered  the  fort  to- 
gether with  them.  It  fell,  its  walls  were  razed,  and 
the  inhabitants  were  sold  into  slavery.  Iphicrates,  who 
had  found  out  from  one  of  the  prisoners  that  Memphis 
was  unprotected,  advised  an  immediate  advance  on  that 
city.  Pharnabazos  replied  that  they  had  better  await  the 
remainder  of  their  army,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  taking  the 
town.  Iphicrates  now  proposed  to  go  down  with  his 
Greeks  and  take  the  city.  This  made  the  Persian  sus- 
picious, and  he  refused  him  permission.  This  quarrel 
between  the  Persian  leaders  gave  Necht-Hor-heb  time  to 
collect  an  army  at  Memphis  and  to  move  with  all  his  force 
against  the  Persians  in  the  Delta.  Several  combats  took 
place,  in  which  the  Egyptians  were  mostly  successful,  but 
no  decisive  battle  was  fought.  Meanwhile  the  Nile  rose, 
and  soon  the  entire  Delta  was  converted  into  a  vast  lake. 
Hereupon  the  Persians,  despairing  of  success,  returned  to 
Asia.  Iphicrates,  who  feared  violence  on  account  of  his 
quarrel  with  Pharnabazos,  went  straight  to  Athens.  For 
several  years  the  army  lay  in  Asia  ready  to  renew  the  war 
at  any  time,  and  in  372  B.  C.  Timotheos  went  to  Asia  to 
offer  his  services  to  the  Persian  king.  Nothing  was  done, 
however,  and  the  great  campaign  against  Egypt,  so  pomp- 
ously begun,  proved  in  the  end  a  dismal  failure. 

Despite  the  fact  that  he  was  almost  constantly  at  war, 
this  pharaoh  carefully  kept  the  temples  in  repair.  He 
built  at  Edfu,  Karnak,  Medinet  Habu,  Abydos,  Bubastis, 
Memphis,  and  other  places.  After  a  busy  and  eventful 
reign  of  eighteen  years  he  died. 

Teher  (Greek,  Tachos,  368-361  B  C.).— It  would 
seem  that  after  the  death  of  Necht-Hor-heb,  troubles  re- 
garding the  succession  broke  out.  The  list  of  Manetho 
gives  Tachos  (i.  e.,  Teher)  only  two  years  and  Nectane- 


150  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

bus  II  (Necht-nebef)  eighteen  years,  while  the  accounts 
given  by  the  Greek  authors  go  to  prove  that  Tachos  still 
reigned  in  361  B.  c.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  Teher  had 
appointed  Necht-nebef  co-regent  in  367  b.  c,  and  that  this 
latter  monarch  had,  in  imitation  of  the  older  pharaohs, 
dated  his  accession  to  the  throne  from  the  time  he  was 
made  co-regent.  According  to  the  Demotic  Chronicles, 
Teher  was  the  son  of  Necht-Hor-heb  ;  according  to  the 
Greek  authors,  he  was  that  monarch's  cousin.  The  Egyp- 
tian inscriptions  tell  us  nothing  of  this  king,  and  from  the 
Greek  historians  we  know  only  the  events  of  the  closing 
year  of  his  reign, 

In  361  B.  c.  a  great  revolt  against  Persia  broke  out  in 
Asia,  and  Teher  naturally  assisted  the  rebels.  He  col- 
lected a  large  army  and  fitted  out  a  strong  fleet.  He  also 
hired  great  numbers  of  mercenaries  in  Greece  and  made  a 
treaty  of  alliance  with  Sparta.  The  strength  of  the  coali- 
tion thus  formed  against  Persia  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient for  its  purpose  had  it  not  been  weakened  by  treachery; 
Orontes,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Asiatic  rebels,  was 
the  first  to  prove  a  traitor,  and  soon  after  Rheomithres, 
who  had  received  the  aid  furnished  by  Teher,  five  hundred 
talents  (twenty-eight  thousand  five  hundred  pounds)  of 
silver  and  fifty  men-of  war,  followed  his  example.  Not- 
withstanding this  defection  the  forces  at  the  command  of 
the  pharaoh  were  quite  strong,  consisting  of  two  hundred 
splendidly  equipped  men-of-war,  eighty  thousand  native 
troops,  and  ten  thousand  choice  Greek  mercenaries.  The 
command  of  the  mercenaries  devolved  on  King  Agesilaos 
of  Sparta,  who  had  come  over  with  one  thousand  hoplites. 
The  Athenian  Chabrias  was  given  command  of  the  fleet, 
while  Teher  himself  retained  command  of  the  native 
troops.  Chabrias  was  the  special  favorite  of  the  pharaoh, 
who  is  said  even  to  have  gone  so  far  at  his  advice  as  to 
levy  a  tax  on  the  temple  estates  and  on  the  exports  and 
imports  of  the  country  while  the  war  lasted.  Agesilaos 
was  less  regarded.  His  coming  had  been  looked  forward 
to  with  considerable  expectation.  Preparations  had  been 
made  for  a  grand  reception,  and  valuable  presents  had 
been  ordered.  When  he  did  come  he  proved  quite  a  dis- 
appointment. His  small  stature  and  extreme  plainness 
awakened  the  scorn  of  the  Egyptians,  and  a  number  of 
jokes  were  circulated  at  his  expense.     This  naturally  en- 


EGYPT  AGAIN  INDEPENDENT.  151 

raged  him,  and,  though  he  did  his  full  duty  by  Teher, 
there  was  a  coolness  between  the  two  kings  which  was 
still  further  augmented  by  the  fact  that  Teher,  disregard- 
ing the  advice  of  the  Spartan,  proceeded  to  conduct  the 
war  on  his  own  plan. 

Agesilaos  had  advised  Teher  to  await  the  Persians  in 
Egypt,  but  the  pharaoh  was  determined  to  take  the  offen- 
sive and  invade  Syria.  Phoenicia  fell  an  easy  prey  to  his 
attack,  and  the  king  sent  his  cousin  and  co-regent,  Necht- 
nebef,  to  take  the  cities  of  Syria.  These  movements  were 
successful,  and  matters  were  assuming  the  most  hopeful 
aspect,  when  Teher,  the  general  whom  the  pharaoh  had  ap- 
pointed regent  of  Egypt  for  the  time  of  his  absence,  revolted 
and  offered  the  crown  to  Necht-nebef.  The  latter  assented, 
and  soon  had  won  over  the  army  and  its  officers  and  all 
the  people  of  Egypt.  All  he  needed  now  was  the  support 
of  the  Greek  mercenaries.  Accordingly,  he  sent  envoys 
to  Agesilaos  and  Chabrias  soliciting  their  support.  Agesi- 
laos despatched  messengers  to  Sparta  asking  how  he  should 
act,  and,  receiving  the  reply  that  he  should  do  what  he 
deemed  most  advantageous  for  Sparta,  he  declared  for 
Necht-nebef.  Chabrias,  who  had  at  first  determined  to 
remain  loyal  to  Teher,  seeing  his  colleague  desert  that 
monarch,  and  being  unable  to  help  him  alone,  followed 
Agesilaos 's  example.  He  left  Egypt,  however,  soon  after, 
never  to  return.  Teher  fled  first  to  Sidon  and  thence  to 
Artaxerxes,  who  not  only  forgave  him  his  former  enmity,  but 
even  made  him  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  that  was 
preparing  to  invade  Egypt.  For  a  while  he  lived  at  the 
Persian  court,  where  he  spent  his  time  in  wild  orgies  until 
he  finally  died  of  dysentery.  The  command  of  the  Per- 
sian army  he  never  actually  took.  This  pharaoh  reigned 
two  years  alone,  and  six  years  in  conjunction  with  Necht- 
nebef. 

Necht-nebef  (Greek,  Nectanebus  II,  361-349  B. 
C.). — In  361  B.  C.  the  last  native  pharaoh  ascended  the 
Egyptian  throne.  The  first  act  of  his  reign  was  to  give 
up  the  conquests  in  Phoenicia  and  Syria  and  to  withdraw 
within  the  boundaries  of  Egypt.  The  reason  for  this  step 
was  most  probably  that  the  internal  dissensions  had  not 
yet  come  to  a  close.  A  Mendesian  had  appeared  as  a 
pretender  to  the  crown,  and  had  succeeded  in  gaining  a 
large  following  and  raising  an  army.     He  even  attempted 


152  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

to  gain  over  King  Agesilaos,  but  he  remained  loyal  to  his 
ally.  Necht-nebef,  carefully  avoiding  a  battle,  retired  to  a 
fortified  town,  where  his  rival  beleaguered  him.  Already  the 
besieged  were  beginning  to  lose  heart,  as  their  provisions 
gave  out,  when  Agesilaos  saved  them.  Sallying  from  the 
town,  he  broke  the  ranks  of  the  besiegers  and  drew  up 
his  troops  in  the  plain  so  that  both  flanks  rested  on  canals. 
In  the  battle  that  ensued  the  bravery  of  the  Greeks  pre- 
vailed over  the  superior  numbers  of  the  Egyptians.  The 
latter  were  completely  routed,  the  greater  part  of  their 
number  being  slain  and  the  rest  flying  from  the  field  in 
wild  disorder.  Necht-nebef  was  now  undisputed  ruler  of 
Egypt.  Shortly  after  this  victory  Agesilaos  determined  to 
return  home.  The  grateful  king  loaded  him  with  presents 
— according  to  some  authorities  he  gave  him  two  hundred 
and  thirty  talents,  or  about  two  hundred  and  seventy-one 
thousand  four  hundred  dollars  —  which  he  distributed 
among  his  troops.  On  his  way  to  Cyrenas  he  died.  His 
body  was  embalmed  and  sent  to  Sparta,  where  it  was 
buried  with  royal  honors  (360  B.  c). 

Meanwhile  the  Persians  had  completed  their  prepa- 
rations, and  Artaxerxes  had  appointed  his  son,  Ockus,  co- 
regent.  Ochus  set  out  for  Egypt,  but,  on  hearing  the 
news  of  his  father's  death,  in  359  B.  C,  he  returned  home. 
Some  time  later  Ochus  attempted  the  subjugation  of 
Egypt,  but  was  defeated  by  Necht-nebef,  who  was  assisted 
by  two  excellent  generals,  Diophantes  of  Athens  and 
Lamius  of  Sparta.  This  success  of  the  Egyptians  encour- 
aged the  Phoenicians  and  the  King  of  Cyprus  to  strike  a 
blow  for  independence.  They  concluded  treaties  with 
Necht-nebef  and  at  once  began  extensive  preparations. 
At  the  head  of  the  Phoenician  towns  stood  Sidon,  which 
soon  succeeded  in  collecting  a  large  army  and  vast 
amounts  of  military  stores.  Ochus  had,  however,  not 
been  idle.  He  had  collected  an  army  of  three  hundred 
thousand  infantry  and  thirty  thousand  cavalry,  and 
had  fitted  out  three  hundred  triremes  and  five  hundred 
transports.  Then  he  started  from  Babylon.  Before  his 
arrival  two  of  his  satraps,  Belesys  of  Syria  and  Mazaeos  of 
Cilicia,  had  in  vain  attempted  the  reconquest  of  Phoenicia. 
They  were  defeated  and  driven  out  of  the  country  by 
Tennes,  the  King  of  Sidon,  assisted  by  four  thousand 
Greeks  under  Mentor,  who  had  been  sent  him  by  Necht- 


THE  PERSIAN  CONQUEST.  153 

nebef.  Now  came  the  news  that  Ochus  was  approaching, 
and  Tennes  lost  courage.  He  sent  a  trusty  messenger  to 
Ochus,  asking  pardon  for  his  revolt,  and  offering  to  aid 
the  king  against  Egypt.  Ochus  gladly  promised  full  par- 
don, even  giving  him  costly  presents^  and  after  some  hesi- 
tation pledged  himself  to  this  course.  We  shall  presently 
see  how  he  kept  his  word.  Ochus  had,  while  advancing  on 
Sidon,  despatched  envoys  to  Greece  asking  the  larger  states 
to  join  in  the  campaign  against  Egypt.  Athens  and  Sparta 
remained  neutral.  Thebes  sent  one  thousand  hoplites 
under  Lacrates,  and  Argos,  three  thousand  men  under 
Nicostratus,  whom  Ochus  had  asked  them  to  send  him. 
The  Greek  cities  of  Asia  Minor  furnished  in  all  six  thousand 
men,  making  the  total  number  of  Greeks  in  the  Persian 
army  aggregate  ten  thousand  men.  Ochus  now  laid  siege 
to  Sidon,  which  was  very  strongly  fortified,  and  would 
never  have  yielded  had  it  not  been  for  the  treachery  of  its 
king.  Tennes  persuaded  Mentor  to  join  him,  and  together 
they  succeeded  in  admitting  the  Persians  into  the  city. 
When  the  Sidonians  saw  they  were  lost  they  destroyed 
their  fleet,  locked  themselves  up  in  their  houses,  and  set 
fire  to  the  city.  Over  forty  thousand  people  are  said  to 
have  perished  in  the  flames.  This  so  enraged  Ochus  that 
he  had  Tennes  put  to  death.  Mentor  and  his  four  thou- 
sand joined  the  Persian  army.  The  fall  of  Sidon  was 
disastrous  to  the  allies,  for  all  of  the  Phoenician  cities,  on 
hearing  of  the  dire  news,  surrendered  at  discretion. 

About  the  same  time  Cyprus  again  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Persians.  A  detachment  of  eight  thousand  Greeks, 
supported  by  forty  triremes,  under  command  of  the  Athe- 
nian Phocion  and  ex- King  Euagoras  of  Cyprus,  succeeded 
in  subduing  the  island  very  quickly.  Salamis  alone  held 
out.  Euagoras  strained  every  nerve  to  capture  the  city, 
as  he  hoped  to  be  made  king  again.  Charges  were,  how- 
ever, preferred  against  him,  and  consequently  Pnytagoras 
was  allowed  to  keep  the  city  as  a  vassal  of  Persia. 

The  Persians  now  attacked  Egypt.  After  having  suf- 
fered severe  losses  in  the  desert,  they  at  length  reached 
Pelusium.  The  Persian  troops  were  drawn  up  at  some 
distance  from  the  strongly  fortified  town,  while  the  Greeks 
camped  almost  under  its  walls.  The  city  was  garrisoned 
by  five  thousand  men  under  Philophron.  The  first  attack 
was  made  by  the  Thebans,  who  waded  the  narrow  canal 


154  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

that  separated  them  from  the  town,  and  began  a  battle 
which  lasted  far  into  the  night,  but  was  indecisive.  The 
forces  of  Necht-nebef  were  much  inferior  to  those  of  the 
Persians,  consisting  of  twenty  thousand  Greeks,  twenty 
thousand  Libyans,  and  sixty  thousand  Egyptians ;  but  he 
possessed  large  numbers  of  river-boats,  which  could  be 
used  to  great  advantage  in  any  combat  on  the  Nile ;  and, 
moreover,  he  had  erected  a  string  of  strong  forts  along 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  Pelusic  branch.  He  lacked,  how- 
ever, a  good  general.  Proud  of  his  previous  victories  over 
the  Persians,  he  had  neglected  to  send  to  Greece  for  a 
general,  fhis  mistake  proved  fatal.  He  had  posted  half 
his  force  in  the  forts,  and  with  the  rest  he  opposed  the 
advance  of  the  enemy.  Before  a  decisive  battle  was 
fought,  Nicostratus  succeeded  in  moving  his  men  to  a 
point  of  vantage  betrayed  to  him  by  an  Egyptian,  and 
strongly  intrenched  himself.  Seeing  this,  Clinias  of  Cos, 
who  was  posted  near  by  with  seven  thousand  men,  at- 
tempted to  dislodge  him.  The  attack  was  repulsed ; 
Clinias  and  five  thousand  of  his  men  fell.  This  battle  was 
by  no  means  decisive ;  but  now  the  want  of  a  good  gen- 
eral showed  itself  in  the  Egyptian  army.  Instead  of  send- 
ing a  stronger  force  against  Nicostratus,  Necht-nebef, 
fearing  that  the  Persians  would  all  cross  the  Nile  as  easily 
as  that  commander  had,  lost  courage,  and,  deserting  his 
forts,  retreated  to  Memphis.  Meanwhile,  Pelusium  was 
being  besieged  by  Lacrates,  but  it  made  a  desperate  re- 
sistance for  several  days ;  when  the  garrison  heard  of  the 
pharaoh's  retreat,  however,  they  offered  to  capitulate.  La- 
crates  promised  the  Greek  troops  a  safe  retreat ;  and 
though  Bagoas,  who  commanded  the  Persian  division  of 
this  corps,  attempted  to  attack  them,  he  was  prevented 
from  doing  so  by  his  colleague.  Mentor  now  marched 
through  the  Delta,  promising  immunity  to  all  who  would 
surrender  at  discretion,  and  threatening  all  who  should  re- 
sist with  the  fate  of  Sidon.  Consequently,  the  Greek  and 
Egyptian  garrisons  vied  with  one  another  in  the  rapidity 
of  their  surrenders.  Among  others,  the  strong  and  im- 
portant fortress  of  Bubastis  surrendered  at  discretion,  and 
all  the  other  fortresses  of  the  Delta  followed  its  example. 
When  Necht-nebef  heard  of  these  losses,  he  dared  not 
give  battle,  but,  taking  the  greater  part  of  the  moneys  in 
the  state  coffers,  he  fled  to  Aethiopia.     Thus,  about  349 


THE  PERSIAN  CONQUEST.  155 

B.  C,  Egypt,  after  an  independence  of  sixty-five  years,  again 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Persians,  and  from  this  time 
forth  it  was  destined  to  be  governed  by  foreign  rulers. 

§  5.   The  Thirty-first  Dynasty,  and  the  Invasion  of  Alex- 
ander (349-33 z  B-  c-)- 

Of  the  last  three  Persian  kings  not  one  was  of  spe- 
cial importance  for  Egypt.  Ochus  was  a  cruel  tyrant, 
whose  acts  reminded  of  the  times  of  the  insanity  of 
Cambyses.  The  Greek  authors  relate  stories  of  his  out- 
rages against  the  Egyptian  religion  that  accord  well  with 
what  we  know  of  his  character.  They  recount  that  the 
people  had  once  on  a  time  nicknamed  him  "  Onos,"  the 
ass,  and  now  he  determined  to  have  his  revenge.  The 
sacred  Apis-steer  was  butchered  and  eaten  by  the  king 
and  his  friends,  and  an  ass  was  elevated  to  the  position  of 
sacred  animal  in  his  stead.  The  sacred  ram  of  Mendes 
was  likewise  slaughtered  at  the  king's  command.  The 
walls  of  the  principal  cities  were  razed  ;  the  temples  were 
plundered,  and  their  treasures  of  gold  and  silver  carried 
off  to  Persia.  Not  content  with  plundering  the  temples, 
Ochus  stole  the  sacred  writings  from  the  sanctuaries,  and 
compelled  the  priests  to  repurchase  them  at  exorbitant 
prices.  As  satrap  he  appointed  a  Persian  named  Pheren- 
dates,  and  then  he  returned  home  to  Babylon  loaded  with 
rich  booty.  Twelve  years  after  the  conquest  of  Egypt 
Ochus  was  murdered  by  Bagoas,  who  placed  the  king's 
son  Arses  on  the  throne,  but  he  ruled  only  three  years, 
falling  a  victim  to  the  same  treacherous  eunuch  that  had 
murdered  his  father  (334  B.C.).  In  the  place  of  his  last 
victim  Bagoas  elevated  a  distant  relative  of  the  royal  fam- 
ily— his  friend  Darius — to  the  throne,  and  at  his  hands 
finally  met  his  merited  reward.  The  king  detected  the 
eunuch's  plan  against  his  life,  and  compelled  the  fellow  to 
swallow  the  draught  intended  for  himself.  Darius  III  did 
not  long  retain  the  throne  he  owed  to  his  friend's  crime. 
The  Greek  invasion,  under  Alexander's  leadership,  soon 
deprived  him  of  his  crown.  Egypt  remained  tranquil,  al- 
most an  uninterested  spectator,  during  the  dread  struggle 
between  Greece  and  Persia,  even  though  all  of  the  Persian 
garrisons  had  been  withdrawn.  In  the  battle  of  Issus  the 
Egyptian  contingent  fought  with  the  Persians  under  its 


156  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

satrap  Sabaces.  Their  leader  fell,  and  the  troops  fled 
with  Darius.  In  Egypt  Mazaces  succeeded  Sabaces  as 
satrap,  but  he  had  no  troops  to  support  his  authority.  The 
power  of  Persia  was  crushed,  but  Egypt  did  not  strike  the 
one  blow  that  would  have  sufficed  to  regain  its  freedom. 
They  had,  however,  sufficient  spirit  left  to  defend  their 
homes  against  robbers.  After  the  defeat  of  the  Persians 
at  Issus,  Amytas,  a  Macedonian  exile,  who  had  joined 
Darius,  fled  to  Tripolis  in  Phoenicia,  collected  a  fleet  and 
sailed  to  Cyprus,  where  he  increased  his  land-forces. 
Thence  he  sailed  to  Pelusium,  effected  a  landing,  and  de- 
clared he  was  the  new  satrap  appointed  by  Darius.  He 
then  marched  through  the  Delta  to  Memphis,  near  which 
city  he  defeated  a  body  of  Egyptians.  After  the  victory 
his  bands  dispersed  to  plunder  the  rich  country  seats  lying 
about  the.  city.  While  engaged  in  this  work  they  were 
surprised  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  citizens ;  Amytas  fell, 
and  not  a  man  of  his  bands  escaped. 

After  taking  Tyre  and  Gaza,  Alexander  determined 
to  secure  Egypt.  He  reached  Pelusium  after  a  seven 
days'  march  without  encountering  any  resistance.  His 
fleet  awaited  him  in  the  harbor.  Mazaces,  having  no 
troops,  and  having  no  hope  of  assistance  from  his  unfor- 
tunate monarch,  had  no  recourse  but  surrender.  Alex- 
ander garrisoned  Pelusium  and  sent  the  fleet  up  the  Nile 
to  Memphis.  With  the  army  he  marched  along  the  river- 
bank  to  Heliopolis,  and  crossing  the  river  at  this  point 
soon  entered  Memphis.  The  great  king  entered  the  an- 
cient capital,  not  in  the  character  of  a  conqueror,  but  like 
a  pharaoh  of  old,  observing  all  the  old  religious  cere- 
monies. He  offered  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  and  instituted 
athletic  games  and  prize  contests  in  the  fine  arts  in  which 
celebrated  Greek  masters  took  part.  The  Egyptians  were 
naturally  captivated  by  this  conduct,  which  was  so  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  last  Persian  rulers,  and  it  is  not  at  all 
surprising  that  a  mystic  romance  was  soon  woven  about 
the  person  of  the  Macedonian  king.  According  to  this 
romance,  Necht-nebef  had  not  fled  to  Aethiopia,  but  to 
Macedonia.  He  was  a  great  magician,  and  as  such  he 
took  the  form  of  Jupiter-Amon,  and  in  this  form  ap- 
proached Queen  Olympias,  the  wife  of  King  Philip.  Alex- 
ander was  thus,  the  story  continues,  the  son  of  Necht- 
nebef,  and  not  of  Philip.     The  romance  thus  made  Alex- 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT  IN  EGYPT.      157 

ander  the  legitimate  heir  of  the  old  pharaohs,  and  the 
avenger  of  his  father  Necht-nebef.  It  would  seem  that 
Alexander  rather  favored  the  spread  of  this  legend,  as  he 
knew  it  would  greatly  strengthen  his  hold  on  the  Egyptian 
people.  Sailing  down  the  Nile  from  Memphis  through 
the  Canopic  branch,  he  went  to  sea  from  Canopus.  Land- 
ing at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Maroetis,  near  the  ancient  town 
of  Rakote,  he  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  place  offered  un- 
equaled  harbor  facilities.  He  therefore  determined  to 
found  a  city  here  which  should  bear  his  name ;  and  thus 
was  founded  the  city  of  Alexandria,  the  most  important 
and  most  permanent  of  the  many  towns  founded  by  this 
king.  This  city  soon  became  the  great  intellectual  ex- 
change  between  the  nations  of  the  Occident  and  the  Ori- 
ent, the  mother  of  a  new  civilization.  Here  European  and 
Oriental  philosophy,  religion,  and  science  met  on  a  foot- 
ing of  equality,  and  views  were  exchanged  and  new  sys- 
tems inaugurated  that  completely  revolutionized  ideas. 
The  philosophy  of  Philo  and  the  astronomical  system  of 
Ptolemy  were  among  the  brilliant  results  of  the  new  civili- 
zation. A  new  art,  the  Hellenistic,  resulted  from  the  in- 
terchange of  Greek  and  Oriental — more  especially  Egyp- 
tian— ideas  on  art.  Doubtless,  too,  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity was  much  fostered  by  the  cosmopolitan  spirit  in 
regard  to  religious  matters  which  emanated  from  this  city. 
From  Alexandria  the  king  pushed  westward  to  the 
famous  oasis  of  Amon.  With  the  assistance  of  the  gods 
he  reached  it  in  safety;  the  story  goes  that  when  the 
water  supply  gave  out  rain  fell  and  that  messengers  of 
the  god  in  the  shape  of  ravens  conducted  the  army  to  the 
oasis.  On  the  way  he  was  met  by  a  deputation  from  Cy- 
renae  which  offered  him  a  golden  crown  and  costly  pres- 
ents. The  city  evidently  apprehended  an  attack,  and 
thought  it  advisable  to  submit  peaceably.  As  Alexander 
entered  the  temple  of  Amon  on  the  oasis,  the  high  priest 
hailed  him  as  son  of  the  god.  Not  knowing  that  it  was 
customary  to  designate  the  pharaohs  as  sons  of  Ra  and 
of  Amon,  the  king  laid  great  stress  on  this  greeting.  After 
having  made  the  temple  rich  presents,  Alexander  returned 
to  Memphis  in  safety.  Here  he  instituted  a  great  festival 
in  honor  of  Jupiter.  He  now  turned  his  attention  to  the 
reorganization  of  the  Egyptian  government.  The  civil 
government  was  put   into  the  hands  of  two  Egyptian 


158  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT, 

nomarchoi  named  Doloaspis  and  Petisis,  and  on  the 
resignation  of  the  former  the  control  of  civil  matters  was 
intrusted  to  the  latter  alone.  The  commanders  of  the 
garrisons  and  of  the  various  troops  of  mercenaries,  as 
well  as  the  heads  of  the  commissary  departments,  were 
Greeks.  Leaving  a  part  of  his  army  in  Egypt,  Alexander, 
early  in  331  B.  c,  left  the  country,  never  to  return.  He 
had  so  delicately  adjusted  the  government  that  the  various 
officials  effectively  held  one  another  in  check,  and  there 
^could  be  no  chance  of  a  revolt.  After  Alexander's  death 
his  body  was  brought  to  Alexandria  for  interment. 

With  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  Alexander  the  history 
of  the  country  comes  to  a  close.  The  Ptolemies  who, 
after  the  great  king's  death,  again  made  Egypt  independ- 
ent, were  a  Greek  family,  and  the  civilization  of  their  times 
differed  materially  from  that  of  the  older  epochs.  Under 
them  the  old  religious  traditions  were  fostered,  it  is  true, 
but  they  no  longer  possessed  any  vitality — there  was  no 
longer  a  national  religion  as  of  old.  The  old  religion  and 
language  were  known  to  the  priests  alone,  and  with  every 
generation  they  became  less  and  less  intelligible  even  to 
this  class  of — well,  let  us  call  them  official  custodians  of 
the  ancient  traditions,  until,  with  the  coming  of  Christian- 
ity in  the  first  century  A.  D„  the  old  religion  gradually 
passed  away.  The  Ptolemies  themselves  were  Greeks ; 
their  capital,  Alexandria,  was  a  Greek  city ;  the  civiliza- 
tion of  their  epoch  was  partly  Greek,  partly  Egyptian. 
The  history  of  Egypt  after  the  conquest  forms  an  integral 
part,  first  of  Greek,  then  of  Roman,  and,  lastly,  of  Mo- 
hammedan history. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSIT 

OF 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


Mena  unites  Upper  and  Lower 

Egypt,  Not  later  than  3200  B.  C 

Snefru,  the  founder  of  the  fourth 

dynasty,  "         "         2830 

Accession  of  Meri  Ra  Pepf,  "        "        2530 

Transition  Period,  About  2400-2250 

Accession  of  Amenemhat  I,  "                2130 

Usertesen  III,  "       2013-1987 

Amenemhat  III,  "       1 986-1 942 

Hyksos  Domination,  "       1 780-1 530 

Accession  of  Aahmes  I,  "                1530 

Thutmosis  III,  u       1480-1427 

Chuenaten,  "       1376- 1364 

Accession  of  Horemheb,  "                1340 

Seti  I,  "       1 31 6-1 289 

Ramses  II,  "       1288-1221 

Ramses  III,  "       11 80-1 148 
Accession  of  Herihor,  the  first 

Priest-King,  "                 1050 

Sheshenq  I,  "          945-924 

Pianchi's  Invasion,               1  "                  800 

Accession  of  Shabaka,  "                  728 

First  Assyrian  Invasion,  "                  672 

Second  Assyrian  Invasion,  *'                  667 

Tanuat  Amon's  Invasion,  "                  664 

Third  Assyrian  Invasion,  "                  662 

Psemtek  I,  645-610 

Nekau,  610-594 

Battle  of  Karkemish,  604 

Nebuchadnezzar  invades  Egypt,  567 

Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Cambyses,  525 

Revolt  of  Chabbash,  486 

Revolt  of  Inaros,  464-460 

Amenrut  frees  Egypt  from  Persia,  414 

Necht-  Hor-heb,  386-368 

Necht-nebef,  361-349 

Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Ochus,  349 

Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Alexander,  331 


THE  END. 


15 


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